He'd Be A Fool Not To
by Romeo's Waiting
Summary: My take on the episode, 'Runaway Little Boy' but this time with a trory twist!
1. Don't Leave

**_He'd be a fool not to…_**

She couldn't stop fidgeting, couldn't stop looking around the Grand Hall for someone who certainly wasn't her boyfriend.

"Now don't worry Ror you're going to be great…And you're not paying attention to me." Lorelai Gilmore stated. She followed her daughters gaze but al she could see was the entrance into the Grand Hall. "So are you planning on being some kinda of architect?"

In the back of her mind Rory registered her mom talking to her but she didn't reply. She wouldn't take her gaze off the archway…just in case he walked through and she missed him.

"Right then. Ror, honey, you're scaring mommy." She waved her hand in front of her daughters face, obstructing her view, and finally shaking her out of the trance she'd been in.

"Huh?" Rory uttered she turned her gaze to her mother for a second before switching it back to the entrance.

Lorelai came to stand behind her daughter, trying to see something interesting about the archway but came up blank. "Okay so do you want to tell mommy why you're staring at the entrance or do you want me to guess?"

"I'm just looking for someone, that's all."

"Oh! And this someone wouldn't happen to be a blonde haired, blue eyed Chiltonite."

Sighing Rory turned around to face her mother, with a guilty expression. "Mom I don't know what's wrong with me!" She said exasperated.

Lorelai's blue eyes filled with compassion for her daughter and she gathered into an embrace. "What do you mean babe?" She asked her soothingly while stroking her back.

Frustrated beyond hell, Rory pulled out of her mothers hug and started to pace in front of her. "I don't know what happened! I mean just a couple of months ago I was so in love with Dean!"

"Are you still in love with him?" Lorelai asked even though she knew the answer already.

Rory's shoulders dropped and she turned to face her mother once again, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I do…I love him…I'm just not in love with him anymore."

Lorelai looked down at her daughter. She was so feeble, so broken. Slowly she brought her daughter back into her arms trying to comfort her. "Shhhhhh…Ror, sweetie, its okay that you don't love him like you use to."

Rory angrily wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yeah but it's not okay that I've been stringing him along for weeks! I told him I loved him just last week mom, even though I knew it wasn't true! I lied to him and now I'm going break his heart…and I don't want to!" She brought her fist up to her mom's shirt and clenched the material so tightly as her body shook.

"Well guess what Rory…You already did!"

The younger Gilmore froze. She recognized that voice…but it was so full of anger and betrayal right now. "Dean…" Was all she uttered as she turned around in her mothers arms.

"I can't believe you Rory! I can't believe that you would do something like this to me!" He was enraged but his voice was cracking like he was going to cry or something.

Rory broke out of her mothers embrace and moved closer to Dean but he backed away. "Dean please you have to listen to me! I don't want us to end like this!" She pleaded with him to understand.

"I don't want this to end at all…" He quelled his anger.

Lorelai had noticed that their outburst had caught the attention of most of the room so silently she led them into the hallway and away from prying eyes. She gave her daughter one last smile before heading back into the Grand Hall.

Neither of them said anything for awhile they just kinda stood their facing each other. Sighing Rory leaned against the lockers and slid to the floor and a few moments later Dean mimicked her position.

He turned to look at her guilty expression and asked one question. "What happened?"

Rory wouldn't look at him; she kept her gaze focused on her legs as she picked off imaginary lint off her Juliet costume. "I don't know, Dean. Ever since we got back together it just hasn't been the same. Everything felt so…I don't know…"

"Rory look at me." She still didn't, so he reached out and turned her head but her eyes would meet his. "Fine just don't look at me…"

It was the defeated tone of voice he used that made her raise her eyes to his. "Dean I'm sorry…I'm so sorry!" She choked on the words coming out and felt the tears stream down he face again.

"I know you are…and I know the last thing you would want would be to hurt me. Can you at least tell me why you don't love me anymore?" He pleaded with her.

She took a deep breath before answering him. "The first time we kissed there was a spark, a connection. Now…there's nothing." She knew that was harsh but she didn't want to lie to him anymore.

Dean took in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second before slowly getting up. He stuck out his hand to help her, and when she grasped it he had to admit that he didn't feel the same electricity as when they first were going out but he still loved her.

"Listen Dean, I'm really sorry and I know this is probably really difficult for you but there's something else I have to tell you…" She knew she had to get this over with…the faster she did it; the quicker it would be over with.

"What's that?" He asked gently trying to come to terms with their break up.

"Uh…I kinda have…ummm…feelings for someone else…" She stuttered slightly and again wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Who?" Dean asked tensely some of his anger returning. He knew who it would be and he also knew he was just hurting himself even more but he needed it confirmed.

"Tristin…" She said it so quietly that he almost didn't hear…keyword being almost. She heard him suck in a breath and watched as his fists clenched at his sides. She knew that it must be extremely difficult for him…

"Great so not am I only losing you…I'm losing you to him!" He said it so bitterly and sarcastically that it made Rory flinch and cower more under his hard gaze.

"I'm sorry…" She said it so meekly that Dean actually softened a bit.

"Look Rory, I'm sorry. I don't want to be the jealous ex-boyfriend…" It hit home pretty hard to him that he was now her ex. "I just want you to be happy. And if…he…makes you happy then I wish you luck."

Rory's head snapped up in surprise. She was utterly shocked that he was so understanding. She had seriously thought she would have to break up a nasty fight tonight. "Are you serious?" She asked bewildered.

She was even more surprised when he laughed slightly at her question. This was a totally different Dean then what she had expected. "Rory I may not be happy about this because I love you…but I want you to be happy." Dean clenched his fists at his side, saying these words were killing him slowly. "But I do want something in return."

"Anything!" She promised to him, with a small smile on her face.

He smiled back at her and gently picked up her hand. "Your friendship…I'm not going to lose you all together!" He joked even as he felt his heart break, he didn't want to lose her…he couldn't lose her.

"Of course we can still be friends. I would accept anything else!" She laughed faintly and smiled up at him.

"Thanks. Oh and I'm not going to listen to you blabber on and on about the accountant though…you go to Lane or your mother for that!" He told her, trying not to let any pain enter his voice.

"Well that is if he wants me…" She trailed off with this forlorn look in her eyes.

Dean came closer to her and gently wrapped his arms around her small frame. "He'd be a fool not to…" He whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek and letting her go, hating himself for needing to be close to her one last time no matter how much it hurt.

Rory chuckled faintly at that but stopped when she looked into his eyes. They were studying her face so intently that she blushed and lowered her head. An idea popped into her head so she raised her eyes to meet his and cocked her head innocently to the side. "So do I get to play matchmaker and set you up with someone?"

"No! God no!" He exclaimed with a sad smile adorning his face. Rory just laughed as we made our way back into the Grand Hall and over towards my mother who was now standing with Sookie and Lane. Her mother gave her a questioning gaze and Rory gave her thumbs up.

"Oh honey, look at you! You look like a princess! Doesn't she look like a princess?" Sookie exclaimed joyfully before making Rory twirl in front of her.

"Well mom made the dress." She told her blushing softly.

"I also made the girl wearing it!" Mom said proudly earning a couple glances from others in the room.

"Hello, gross!" Rory told her, smacking her arm.

Rory can see Paris walking up to them quickly, not looking very friendly…not that she usually did or anything.

"Rory I need you!" She stated before dragging Rory into the hallway her and dean had talked in before. "He's not here!"

"Who's not here?"

"Tristin! I've looked everywhere! I called his house, I called his cell…I asked three girls I know he's dating!" Paris was fuming and looked like she might explode at any minute.

"Paris calm down! I'm sure he's here…" I told her calmly but on the inside I was panicking just like her. "He's probably smoking in one of the bathrooms or something!"

Paris looked slightly relieved and you could see her relax a bit. "Good thinking, Gilmore. I'll check the west men's bathrooms, and you check the east." She instructed before walking off.

They met back up right outside the Grand Hall empty handed. Paris went into one of her rants but Rory wasn't listening. She was busy coming up with the worst case scenarios about what had happened to Tristin. Things from how he had forgotten about the play and had gone out on some date, or that he had been driving down to the school and had gotten in a car crash. Both of them were awful to her…but she didn't get to think up anymore because Tristin walked up to them.

"Where have you been? You have to get dressed; we're on in thirty minute minutes!" Paris yelled, advancing threateningly on him.

"Can't," was all he said to her.

"What?" She asked in a voice that could freeze hell over.

"Actually, my dad had me pulled out of school. He…" He stopped talking as Paris huffed and walked back into the Grand Hall. "… and is she unhappy."

Rory's mind had gone blank when he said he'd been taken out of school. She must have heard wrong…he couldn't leave. Not now, not when she had just realized her feelings for him. "What do you mean he had you pulled out of school? What happened?" She asked when she got her voice back.

"Nothing, just ticked the old man off, that's all." He said it casually but inside his heart was breaking. This was the lat time he would see her, the last time he would talk to her…

"By doing what? Tristan, come on, tell me." Rory asked desperately, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"I got in some trouble."

"Trouble involving?"

"Involving Duncan and Bowman, and Bowman's dad's safe." He told her guiltily looking down at his shoes. "I mean, Bowman had a key. It was supposed to be no big deal. And then the crazy silent alarm kicked in."

"You broke into Bowman's dad's safe?" This time her voice held some amusement but mostly dejection.

Tristin studied her closely. He could swear he heard something in her voice, saw something in her eyes. He blamed it on his hope that maybe she felt the same way so he just solemnly nodded his head.

"Stupid." Rory told him, scratching the back of her neck nervously trying to will the tears not to fall.

"I know." He bent his head a little. _Was she crying?_

All of a sudden she stood up straight, her face set in determination. "Well, okay, you can apologize and you can put back the money and you can explain that, I don't know you were going through something."

He smirked at that before answering with: "I was...I was going through his safe!"

"Why would you do this?" She asked him quietly…the question holding a hidden meaning.

"I don't know. I guess that's something I can ponder at military school."

"Military school!" She almost shrieked. _No_ _he couldn't go to military school! _

"The police are letting our parents handle it, and in my case that means military school in North Carolina. At least my grandfather is trying to talk him out of it…" He trailed off once again.

"I don't know what to say…I…I don't know what to do…" She looked so small, so lost as she leaned back against the row of lockers behind her.

"Well, I imagine you're overwhelmed with the relief in knowing that soon I will be gone." He wanted to say it as a joke but it came out bitterly.

"I'm not…"

"Well, I'm a big boy. I can…What?" Tristin asked puzzled.

"You can't leave Tristin…Are you sure there's nothing you can…" She cut off by who she guessed was Tristin's father; call out to him that he wanted to talk with Tristin alone.

"I gotta go. So, I might kiss you goodbye but, uh, your boyfriend's watching. Take care of yourself, Mary."

He started to walk down the hallway and Rory became desperate. She wouldn't let him leave…he just couldn't leave not until he knew how she felt…

"Tristin wait!" She cried and ran as fast as she could towards him. He had stopped just at the end of the hallway. His father and an older man, his grandfather, were standing a few feet away. "Tristin you can't leave…" She told him quietly the tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks.

To say that Tristin was shocked would be an understatement. He carefully lifted his hand and brushed the pad of his thumb against her cheek, wiping away her tears but they just kept falling.

"Please don't leave…Tristin…please…" She managed to tell him before her knees gave out and she collapsed into his arms.

Tristin's arms didn't hesitate to wrap around her petite waist bringing her body a lot closer to his. She buried her head into the crook of his neck, soaking his shirt with her tears. Still in a daze he tightened his grip around her waist and brought on hand up to comb through her silky hair, trying to comfort her.

Standing, forgotten, by the doors into the school, Mr. Dugrey and Dugrey Senior watched the whole thing act out. They had been having a heated discussion while Tristin went to tell his friends that he would be leaving. Dugrey Senior had almost won his argument when the whole thing had happened.

Dugrey Senior looked over at his son, eyes telling him exactly what he had to do, and not leaving it up to discussion. "You let Tristin stay here, someone here needs him." He told his son evenly, before looking back at his grandson and the girl sobbing and shaking in his arms.

Carter Dugrey looked over at his son, and watched as he placed a gently kiss on the girls head before laying his head against it. He looked back over at his father. "She's a Gilmore right? Richard's granddaughter…"

Janlen Dugrey rolled his eyes at his son, something's never changed. "Yes, Carter, she's a Gilmore."

"Yes, then, Tristin has one month to improve his grades and his attitude…" He told Janlen but he was looking at his son who had pulled Rory's head back and was wiping her tears away. "You can tell him the good news." And then he was gone, disappearing into the night.

Tristin placed his hands on each side of Rory's head, cradling it. "Rory, what's wrong?" He asked her softly.

Once Rory got control of her emotions she looked up into his eyes, drowning in how blue they were. "You can't leave…you can't leave me…" She said it so softly that she was afraid he hadn't heard her but to him it had been like she shouted it.

Tristin's heart sped up, he had never thought she would ever talk to him like that…with that 'crying for help' tone. He unconsciously pulled her closer, her heat warming him to the core. "What's wrong, Mary?"

She brought her hand up to his chest and took hold of his shirt in her fist, clutching it. "You can't leave, not now. I just broke up with Dean and if you leave then…"

Her comment about Dean had shocked him even more. "You broke up with the bagboy?" He cut her off mid-ramble and gently pushed her out of his embrace.

Rory pulled back completely, drying her tears and thanking god for water proof makeup. As she busied herself Tristin slowly started to move closer to her, making her back up into the lockers. When her back hit one he swiftly curled one of his hands around her waist and the other resting right beside her head. She was trapped.

She lowered her head, trying to hide her blush among other things. But Tristin wouldn't allow it. He hooked one finger under her chin and raised her head. He lifted his eyes, and what he read in hers made him sharply draw in his breath. He'd never expected to see love in those blue depths.

Rory didn't know what to do. With the news that Tristin would be leaving she didn't know if it was wise to tell him, to bare her heart to him. She had had this argument with herself more times than necessary but it was never resolved. It would always come down to the fact that she didn't know if she could trust Tristin with her heart. She was faltering, on the brink of running away and in danger of falling into his arms all at the same time.

"Rory." His voice was soft and soothing to her ears, she turned her head slightly so she could see his face. "I need you to tell me what's wrong. I can't have you like this…it's killing me."

Rory felt like she was falling, no longer teetering on the edge of something, she had dived right into it. On seeing his face so gentle and tender and hearing his voice filled with love, she found herself swearing off everything if only he could stay with her.

Tristin ran his fingers through her hair, loving the feel of its silky, smooth texture against his skin. "Baby, please tell me what's wrong," He pleaded with her while continually stroking her hair in an effort to soothe her.

"Paris is going to be really mad at me…" She spoke at last and it made Tristin feel marginally better that she was still on planet earth. "My grandmother's gonna be mad…I was supposed to meet her…"

"You're grandmother talks very highly of you. I've talked with her before at some charity events. She's a great woman." Tristin knew that she was stalling but he was happy that at least she was talking to him.

Rory slowly brought her hand to rest on his where it lay on her hair. "She told me about that. She also says you played golf with my grandfather or something…" At his curt nod she continued. "She said for someone who's so young you're pretty good at the game. He liked you, you know. My grandmother did to… was concerned that I was too mean to you and gave me some big lecture about it. Did I mention they both liked you?"

"Yeah, Mary, you did." Tristin knew that she was justifying something to herself by what she was saying. That both of her grandparents liked him.

"Did I mention I like you?" Her voice was quiet and just on the edge of his hearing.

It was like a bombshell. Tristin's head filled with blood and emotion that he struggled hard with to control. This was a frail admission that she liked him, but it was what he had been waiting for forever.

"Rory, I…"

"Shh…" Rory pressed her fingers to his lips. "Don't say anything. Just listen." She was beyond nervous; she was taking her mothers advice though. She was following her heart.

She carefully removed herself from his embrace and started to pace in front of him. From the corner of her eye she saw an old man standing by the entrance but she knew she had to get this over with so she chose to ignore him. She wrung her hands nervously before stopping in front of him and tilting her head to the side innocently.

"We had a pretty bad beginning." She started and saw how Tristin lowered his gaze almost guiltily. "Doesn't matter now. You see I've been thinking a lot about the relationship we had and I've come up with this. Maybe we threw all that stuff at each other because we never wanted to admit to ourselves that we had feelings for each other."

"Rory?" Tristin asked her with an apparent awe in his voice as he reached out to touch her.

"I mean." She frowned and met his eye. "Maybe all that time we were working so hard against the connection that we felt to each other, so hard that we blinded ourselves to it. We were so busy trying to hate each other that we missed how we really felt."

Tristin narrowed his eyes and pulled her closer to him. She willingly melted into his embrace and found herself cuddling up to him.

"I can remember wanting nothing more than to put you in your place but I never could." She let her head rest on his strong chest.

"Same here, Mare, from the first moment I saw you I knew it was over. I lost myself in you but found myself all at the same time." Tristin knew he was putting his heart on his sleeve…baring himself to her and he was pretty damn scared because she had the power right now to break him.

"I do love our little fights though, you always leave me feeling frustrated yet fulfilled even though I haven't managed to win." Rory again stepped back and looked up at him. "I wish you didn't have to go…"

"Why? I thought you would have been happy…but then again guessing from what you just told me I'm not quite sure what you're feeling."

"I wouldn't have been happy to see you leave even if I hated you. If you had left a couple of months ago then I probably wouldn't have given it that much thought."

"And now?" Tristin asked her hopefully.

"And now all I can think is how much I'm going to miss you, how I'm going to blame myself…"

"This isn't your fault, Ror; I'm the one who got caught…" He quickly intervened and tried to reassure her, he didn't want her beating herself up over this.

"Not about that…I just can't help but feeling that if I hadn't been so stubborn maybe we might have actually had a chance." The tears she had managed to hold back started to fall again but she didn't move to stop them this time.

"You still have that chance, it's not too late." A deep voice told them. Rory looked over at the man that had been leaning against the entrance before and was now walking over to them.

"Grandpa, what do you mean? Dad's sending me to military school!"

Tristin's grandfather came over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "No he's not."

Tristin was shocked, and he stood there with his mouth hanging open for a minute before quickly asking his grandfather why.

"Well it seems that your friend here happens to be the granddaughter of Richard Gilmore, one of your father's business associates and good friends. We had almost come to an agreement when she came into the picture." He told us but kept his eyes focused on Rory making her blush and look down at her shoes.

"What does that mean!" Tristin asked his grandfather again, his eyes burning with hope.

"It means that he has made a deal. If you can improve your grades along with your attitude in the next month then you may stay here." His serious face broke out into a grin and he laughed slightly at the expression on Tristin's face.

"But what does that have to do with me?" Rory asked him timidly.

Janlen looked over at her and walked closer, resting his hand on her shoulder like he had done with Tristin just moments ago. "Well it seems, miss that you come from a very wealthy family and carry a very prominent name." Rory looked a bit confused as to why this would matter and Janlen knew at once that she obviously hadn't been brought up here in Hartford. "Status means everything to Carter Dugrey. He is more than thrilled to see his son in the company of someone like you."

The two teens seemed to take this information in for a while before they both broke out into goofy smiles.

"Well I just wanted to tell you the good news. I will leave you two alone now." And with one more affectionate pat on Tristin's shoulder, the old man walked down the corridor and into the Grand Hall.

"Oh my God! Tristin did you hear that, you're not leaving!" Rory exclaimed this time crying with tears of joy.

Tristin was smiling like a fool but he didn't care. He advanced on her and grabbed her by the waist, spinning her around in his arms. Coming to a stop he saw Rory was laughing and staring happily into his eyes.

Neither of them had noticed the audience they had, the way they were acting they probably wouldn't notice if it starting raining fire and brimstone. Lorelai, Lane, Sookie, and Janlen were all watching them from the entrance into the Grand Hall.

"Mary." Tristin breathed as he held her in his arms, her feet dangling off the ground.

"Bible Boy." Rory wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled her 'I love you' smile.

Tristin then crushed his mouth against hers and she responded immediately, wrapping her legs around him she pulled his mouth tight to hers and kissed him back deeply.

The whole world dropped away as Tristin's tongue sought Rory's; she tackled it and let the kisses turn gentle. A feeling in her stomach rose up and she felt this amazing heat spread throughout the body. Tristin softly moved his lips against hers, brushing them delicately and quickly as he pulled her closer to him.

"Tristin…" Rory caught his eye and he could tell that she was trying to say something but looked scared.

"Shh…We have all the time in the world, Mare." He smiled then silenced her by pressing his mouth back against hers. He saw the love in her eyes and that was good enough for him.

Rory realized she really liked the feeling of his mouth covering hers, it was so comforting and it made her whole body sing. She was melting inside and felt sure she would slip from his arms into a pool on the floor. As if he knew what she was thinking Tristin held her tighter and let his tongue slip into her mouth softly tangling with hers.

Tristin easily turned her around and pushed her against the lockers, offering her more support. Giggling softly Rory leant forward and pressed her mouth back against his, feeling his hands run up her thigh. She was growing very hot and flushed and she knew they would have to stop before it was too late. So she quickly turned her head away from his, smiling at the groan of dissatisfaction he let out.

Resting her head back against the lockers she let her fingers travel up from where they had been resting on his neck, into his hair, sifting through it. Tristin grinned at her and wriggled his hips mischievously, pushing himself harder onto her. Rory let her head fall to the side and finally saw the audience they had developed.

"Oh my God!" She whispered and slumped forward, trying to hide herself in Tristin's shoulder.

"What?" Tristin turned his head to see Lorelai waving at him with a big grin on her face; she then turned around and motioned everyone to leave them alone. "Maybe we should go some place more private." He arched a brow and Rory slapped his arm before freeing herself from his embrace, her cheeks still tinged pink.

"Come on Tris, let's go face the music." She planted one more kiss on his lips before grabbing his hand and slipping it into hers.

"You know I'm really glad you came after me." He told her squeezing her hand slightly.

"Yeah, me to." She returned the squeeze and together they walked back into the Grand Hall.

* * *

_Okay guys I hope you liked this, I wrote it a while ago but I decided to post it now because I haven't updated in a while. Review this please and read my other stories. _

_Love you all,_

_-Ella_


	2. The Morning After

**Disclaimer: I don't Gilmore Girls, sadly :(  
Okay guys, here's the second chapter for this story. I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed you guys are awesome. Um some people hinted at the dramatic parts to the chapter and I apologize for that but it's my inner soap opera inside! She likes to come out of hiding every once in a while...  
---**

**He'd Be A Fool Not To…**  
_Chapter Two: The Morning After_

The street was quiet, deserted. Lights had been turned off long before. Shops had closed for the night. Everyone was in bed, sleeping. Everyone except two overly hyper, highly caffeinated Gilmore girls.

The mother and daughter had stocked up on candy. They had everything under the rainbow, from pink peppermints to lemon gumdrops, sour skittles to tootsie rolls. They had marshmallows and cotton candy and ice cream and still more. They had rented by far their favourite movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, along with Reality Bites and Miss Congeniality because they're romances. But even then one thing was missing…Coffee! The girls had stopped at Luke's, the local diner, and had stocked up. The two had watched one movie and were halfway through the second one.

"I still can't believe you made out with him!"

"Hey I clearly remember you telling me to follow my heart!" The younger Gilmore exclaimed.

"Yeah but was your heart clearly telling you to make out with him!" Lorelai Gilmore asked as she reached over to grab a handful of Ringolo's. "And to do it all over again onstage!"

"Hey! We're Romeo and Juliet we had to kiss!"

"Yes, mini me, but you were supposed to be dead! And I'm pretty sure dead people don't stick their tongues down people's throats!"

"That's not fair! You know I already got a lecture from Paris about that!" Rory accused her mother, waving a pointed finger at her. "Plus in my defense…I couldn't control myself!"

Lorelai regarded her daughter. She was so grown up now, and experiencing love for the first time. With Dean Lorelai had known from the start that it wouldn't last. What girl ends up staying with her first boyfriend for the rest of her life? Not many!

Dean had been the perfect first boyfriend though. He was sweet, nice; he treated her right, with respect and truly cared about her. The thing was there was no spark between the two of them, no tingles, and no bats in the stomach; because Rory hadn't loved him.

She smiled a genuine smile as she watched Rory. She had the biggest smile on her face; it was that goofy, happy one. And when she turned to face her, Lorelai saw that her blue eyes seemed to sparkle and shine with happiness and laughter. Lorelai couldn't remember a time when her daughter had been this happy. And that made her happy!

---

The sun was beating down on the two forms lying on the couch. One was fast asleep, the other could feel the sun, and it was shining on her face, waking her up from her peaceful sleep. Grumbling she tried to escape the light but couldn't. With a sigh she rolled over, and found herself on the floor of her living room. Lorelai picked herself up of the ground and shuffled towards the kitchen. Lifting her hand she tried to massage the crick out of her neck.

"The diabolic torture device; the comfy chair!" She muttered to herself.

Going straight to the coffee pot she started to prepare some. Still half asleep she sat herself down at the kitchen table, cradling her head with her hands. She just happened to glance at the clock when she moved her head, and noticed that it was 6:35 AM. She let out a very unbecoming snort before letting her head hit the table.

She stayed in the same position until the coffee maker signaled it was done. Like a kid on Christmas she shot out of her seat and ran over to the pot. She grabbed her favourite mug and poured the heavenly beverage. She didn't even wait a few seconds for it to cool. Lorelai put the mug to her lips and tipped it, letting the liquid pour down her throat. After getting her first drink of coffee she felt a lot more awake, so she trudged back into the living room. Rory was still fast asleep on the couch, curled up into the fetal position almost. Lorelai made her way over to the window; she looked out and to her surprise and complete horror there were people outside!

"What!" she gasped, horrified that people actually got up this early by choice.

Quickly she went to the front door, slipped on her sandals and opened the door. She only had on a very small tank top and matching shorts, so the early morning breeze cooled her skin. Still nursing her cup of coffee, she reached behind her and pulled the door closed and started down the street.

"Hey sweetie, don't you think it might be a little cold for that outfit?" Babette asked in her normal raspy voice.

Lorelai looked over at her neighbour; she honestly hadn't really noticed the temperature that much. "Winds a little bad but as long as we're still in Kansas I think I'll be fine!" she joked, thinking it was weird to be her regular sarcastic self this early in the morning.

"Well then darling, more power to ya!" Babette told her encouragingly before waving and crossing the street to talk with Patty.

Lorelai kept on walking, waving and exchanging words with some townsfolk until she reached Luke's. Walking into the diner sudden warmth came over her and she sighed with contentment as she sat herself at one of the stools, facing the counter.

"Luke! Coffee!" she whined, draining her cup and setting it on the counter.

Luke slowly came out of the kitchen with a very confused expression. He looked at Lorelai and then he looked over at the watch on his wrist. He walked towards her, leaning his elbows on the counter and looking at her some more making her very uncomfortable but a little amused.

"So Luke has all the plaid finally driven you insane?" she asked cocking her head to the side.

He seemed to come out of his state of disbelief and stood straight once more. "No," he told her sharply. "Lorelai what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get some coffee!" she announced trying to sound innocent.

"Yeah but it's seven in the morning on a Saturday. I've never seen you this early on a Saturday," he tried to explain, and kept poking at the watch on his wrist.

"Well I thought today would be a great day to start something new," she tried to sound enthusiastic about her idea but it really wasn't working for her.

"What really happened?" he asked, coming off impatient but inwardly smiling at Lorelai.

She groaned, "I fell asleep on the couch last night and when I woke up I had the most annoying crick in my neck so naturally I thought that coffee would make it better," she peered over his shoulder at the coffee steadily brewing, "which brings me to my order," she picked up a menu and pretended to leaf through the pages. "Coffee please," she announced throwing the menu aside.

Luke rolled his eyes at her antics before picking up the menu and giving it to a customer who had just walked in. "Lorelai you had a cup of coffee when you came in here," he told her.

She gasped, "I most certainly did not!"

He raised his eyebrows before pointing his finger at the mug resting by her elbow. "Then how do you explain that?"

She opened her mouth a couple times before finally coming up with what she thought would be a great excuse. "Well it's obviously one of your mug's Luke."

He picked up the mug, dangling it from the handle. "Lorelai this mug is not mine," he exclaimed pointing to the bolded words written on the front. 'Coffee: I promise I'll never stop loving you!'

Giggling like a crazy person she took her mug back. "Okay so maybe this is mine but it's empty now so you should refill it," she managed to get out.

Sighing, Luke poured some coffee into her mug and watched as she practically inhaled it. He rolled his eyes muttering something about how she was going to die young and then walked off to serve other patrons.

Lorelai sat at the counter contently sipping her coffee and picking at the Danish Luke had given her for a while. She gave him an odd look when he sat down next to her at the counter but that quickly turned into a smile when he refilled her mug.

"So where's Rory today?" Luke asked casually.

"She's still sleeping, on the couch. Awe she's gonna have an even worse crick in her neck when she wakes up!" Lorelai told him feeling sorry for her daughter.

"So I'm guessing you guys had another movie night last night?" Luke asked her, sliding of the stool and walking around to the other side of the counter.

Lorelai smiled softly remembering the night before and how happy her daughter had been. "Yeah but it was more of a girls night."

"Girls night?" he questioned her.

"Yeah, Rory and I just spent the whole night talking about the play and…" she trailed off her eyes growing wide as she looked over at Luke. "Oh my God! You weren't there last night! You don't know what happened?"

"It was a Shakespeare play at Chilton, what could have happened?"

"Well not only did I get to see Lanes boyfriend in tights but…" she let that image sink in and smiled even more when he grimaced, "Rory made out with a guy in the middle of the hallway!" she said the last part quietly, not wanting the gossip mill to pick it up.

Luke's eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open for a minute. "Wow!"

"I know. I was very proud of her!" Lorelai told him, still smiling.

Luke shook out of his stupor and regarded Lorelai as if she had three heads. "Wait a minute, you're happy about this?"

"Yeah…" she looked at him suspiciously, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Well it could be the fact that your 16 year old daughter is running around making out with random guys!" Luke told her sternly his voice rising.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes a bit, "Luke this guy wasn't random. He wasn't some Joe she picked up off the street."

"Well then who was he?" he asked her calming down a bit. He hated getting wound up like that but he thought of Rory as his own daughter and he didn't want to see her get hurt.

Lorelai started to smile once again but she stopped halfway through, her eyes filling with over protectiveness. "Oh my God!"

"What?" Luke asked confused.

"She can't date this guy; she can't just go around making out with him. That's not Rory! I never saw her make out with Dean!" Lorelai was starting to panic. The cool best friend role she had been in the night before vanishing.

"Okay what's with the sudden change of attitude?"

"He was raised in Hartford, he's been going to Chilton since he could walk," she tried to explain to him the badness of the situation. "He has money, he has looks, he has girls…and now he has Rory."

"What do you mean he has girls?" Luke asked.

Lorelai looked up at him her eyes were filled with sadness. "He's a playboy. He rules the school…" and then her eyes filled with horror, "he's Christopher."

---

Lorelai flung the door open and made her way into the living room where Rory was still asleep on the couch. She knelt down in front of her daughter, her own face softening at the peaceful expression on Rory's face. She stood back up and started to widely pace in front of the couch.

"Mom?"

Lorelai froze, her back facing Rory and her hands beside her face almost in a surrendering position. She scrunched her eyebrows together and closed her eyes, slowly turning around and peeking at the couch. Rory was sitting up, hugging a pillow to her chest. She was staring at Lorelai with an amused look.

"Hey sleepyhead…" Lorelai trailed off. She wasn't looking at her daughter; her eyes were focusing on the wall behind Rory's head.

"Mom its 8 o'clock in the morning," Rory told her mother.

Lorelai laughed fakely, trying not to let her daughter see what she was thinking. She felt horribly guilty and knew she would have to get out of the house before she blurted out her thoughts. "Well look at that it is 8 o'clock…"

Rory decided not to question her mother about her weird behavior, because, well this was Lorelai and she kind of expected this kind of stuff from her mother. She nodded her head at her mother before picking herself up off the couch and trudging towards her bedroom. "Just let me know when you're ready to go…" she called over her shoulder as she disappeared into room.

Lorelai's thoughts stopped for a minute as she tried to process what her daughter just said. She came up with nothing so she quickly walked to Rory's bedroom and leaned against the doorframe. "Go where?"

Rory picked out an outfit from her drawers and grabbed her bathrobe off the floor. She stood next to her mother and placed a hand on her shoulder, "To the insane asylum silly," she whispered to her mother before scampering off to the bathroom.

Lorelai watched her daughter head into the bathroom and when she heard the door lock she went into the living room and picked up the phone –which was for once was in its cradle. She dialed for reinforcements.

"Hello," a perky voice said from the other line.

"Hey Sookie, its Lorelai," she told her friend, glancing towards the bathroom.

"Hey Lorelai, what's up?" Sookie asked her friend, taping at the watch on her wrist.

Lorelai exhaled noisily, "I need to talk to you about something. I was wondering if we could meet at the Inn in like a half an hour."

Immediately Sookie became worried and started firing off questions but Lorelai reassured her that nothing was wrong she just needed some advice. "Okay I'll be there," she said.

"Thanks Sookie," the two said their goodbye's before they both hung-up.

Lorelai placed the phone back down just in time to hear the shower turn off. She quickly ran upstairs and changed into more work appropriate clothes and causally walked downstairs. Rory was sitting on the couch drying her hair with a towel.

"Hey, sorry about this but I'm going to have to make an appearance at the Inn today," she still wasn't looking at Rory but at the towel hanging around her shoulders.

"That's okay, I think I'm just gonna stay here, read," Rory told her mother distractedly. She was secretly happy that her mom wouldn't be here because she really wanted the house to herself right now. She had a lot to think about and her mom would be the biggest distraction.

Lorelai felt relieved that she would get out with no problem so she awkwardly waved goodbye and left through the front door.

---

Slowly the world came into focus and his dream world started to slip away from him. As per usual he tried his hardest to hold onto his dream but it was no use he could feel himself waking up. He hated mornings, that feeling when he just woke up was the worst. That feeling when he had to leave his dreams, the one place where he had everything, and he had to come back into reality. He knew there was no point in fighting it so he opened his eyes and was instantly attacked by the sunlight invading his room. He shielded his eyes, swung his legs onto the floor and got out of bed. He knew the maids would take care of his bed so he just stumbled into his bathroom. He jumped into the shower and stood under the hot spray for a while, washing his hair and body before stepping out and wrapping a towel around his waist. He walked back into his room and opened his closet. He picked out a pair of loose fitting jeans and a red shirt. Slipping into this outfit he tossed the towel into the laundry shoot and made his way out of his room and downstairs into the kitchen. Sitting himself down on one of the stools, he found a plate of eggs being placed in front of him.

"Thanks Maria," he said to the cook who was buzzing around the kitchen.

"It's no problem Master Dugrey," she told him politely.

He rolled his eyes at the cook. "I thought I told you to call me Tristin."

The cook sighed before going to sit next to him. "I know you did but I am not allowed. Your father says it's non respectful to call him or his family by their first names," she explained to him.

Tristin rolled his eyes resulting in Maria laughing and rubbing his head affectionately. Tristin finished his breakfast and left the kitchen, heading into the game room. He through himself onto the couch and turned on the TV, flicking it to a sports channel. Maria soon entered the room bringing with her a plate of cookies that she placed on the table in front of him.

"Thanks Maria," he said throwing her a charming smile, and popping a cookie into his mouth.

"You're welcome," she replied picking up a dirty cup the maids had missed. She was almost out the door when a thought came into her mind. "Master Dugrey, how did the play go last night?"

And that's when the whole night came back to Tristin. It was like a tidal wave of images crashing through his mind. He remembered his father telling him that he was going to military school; he remembered how his grandfather had argued his case. Then he remembered going to Chilton to tell his group that he was leaving. A huge grin broke out onto his face when he replayed his conversation with Rory in his mind. And a look of awe washed over him when he remembered how she had told him that she felt the same way about him and how he had finally gotten the chanced to kiss her again. He had finally reclaimed her lips after months of wanting and craving. He remembered the taste of her lips; a tangy fruit mixture with a hint of coffee. He closed his eyes with great contentment, and he could almost feel her body pressed into his again. She had been so warm and soft, so perfect.

"Master Dugrey?" Maria asked looking faintly worried.

Tristin broke out of his reverie and turned his head toward the cook. He gave her his most stunning smile and answered her smoothly. "The play couldn't have gone better if the god's had arranged it…"

Maria laughed slightly before softly walking back towards the kitchen. But Tristin remained in his seat letting his thoughts run wild. He knew at that moment that the night before had been the best night of his life. It beat every other night he had spent with a girl and he knew it was because Rory was different. He actually felt for this girl, he loved her with all his heart.

He couldn't wipe the smile off his face, couldn't help but feel his heart speed up when he thought of her. He wondered if these feelings would ever stop…

…_God I hope not!_

---

_**Don't be a poo…Post a review!**_

_**-Ella **_


	3. Serendipity

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or the movie Serendipity. _  
_

_**He'd be a fool not to…**_

Lorelai threw open the kitchen door stalked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup. She sat herself down on one of the stools facing the counter and started drumming her fingers impatiently on the stainless steal counter top.

"Oh Lorelai you're here!" Sookie exclaims, emerging from the large pantry on the other side of the kitchen.

"Yah, I'm here and you're here," she rambled, "we're all here…"

Sookie eyed her curiously before grabbing a tray of cookies and sitting on the stool beside Lorelai. "So what's wrong hon?"

Lorelai picked at a cookie, extracting all the chocolate chunks and popping them in her mouth. "It's Christopher…" she sighed dejectedly.

Sookies expression turned to worry once again and she tried to move her stool closer to Lorelai's. "Christopher? Isn't he in California?"

"Yah."

"Okay then…Do you want him here?" she guessed.

Lorelai's head shot up and she shook it strongly. "No! No of course not!"

Sookies hands went up into the air surrendering innocently. "Okay, okay. So, um, what's the problem then?"

"It's Rory…" she whispered.

Sookies eyes flooded with even more confusion. She thought they were talking about Chris… "Okay…How about some more coffee?" she motioned at the now empty cup Lorelai was holding.

"Rory wants to date this guy," Lorelai started, filling her cup with coffee.

"Is it that guy from Chilton because yummy!" Sookie exclaimed.

Lorelai shushed her. "Yes it's that guy and she can't date him Sookie!"

"Okay you lost me…"

Lorelai sighed and looked into Sookies friendly eyes. "He's Christopher."

---

Lorelai parked the jeep in the driveway of the Crap Shack. She got out of the car and walked to the front door. She quietly opened the door and slipped through it. Pausing, she tried to hear anything that would tell her if Rory was home or not. She heard the faint sounds of The Bangles drifting from Rory's bedroom and Lorelai headed in that direction. Her talk with Sookie had helped her a lot. She'd stopped feeling as guilty as she'd been before. Now she was just determined to make Rory see that a relationship with Tristin would never work. Sookie hadn't been very supportive at first but Lorelai had won her over when she'd told her some of the stories that Rory had told her when she was in her 1st year at Chilton. Sookie had jumped in the band wagon and they had spent the rest of the time trying to come up with ways to make Rory understand why she can't date Tristin… no matter how happy he made her.

She paused outside the door to gather her thoughts and then pushed the door open. Rory was lying on her bed reading on of her Russian literature novels. She had spent most of the morning thinking about Tristin but she just kept going around in circles and was beginning to get a headache. So after three failed attempts at calling him she's decided to read something that didn't have even a trace of romance in it.

"Hey mom," Rory greeted her mom and sat up placing her book on her nightstand and patting the spot next to her.

Lorelai smiled at her daughter before coming to it beside her on the bed. They both sat there for a while in silence only the sounds of The Bangles were heard. Lorelai soon got restless and started to pace in front of the bed.

Rory smiled, very amused at her mother's behaviour.

"You can't date him!"

Her smile was gone in a second. "What?"

Lorelai stopped pacing and turned around to face Rory. "You're not going to date him," she declared in a very 'Emily Gilmore' kind of voice.

Rory already knew what she was talking about but she didn't want to believe it. "What are you talking about mom?"

"I'm talking about you and Tristin and the fact that you will not date him," Lorelai told her, her hands were on her hips and she had on her resolve face.

Rory didn't understand what had changed. Her mom had been so accepting of this before but now she'd done a complete 180 and was telling her it couldn't happen. "Mom you're not making any sense. It was your pushing that made me realize that I liked Tristin," Rory told her mom, her cheeks were turning red and it wasn't from embarrassment.

Lorelai seemed to calm down a bit. She sat herself back down beside Rory and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know I did tell you to follow your heart and it was my advice that made you… do what you did last night. But now I'm giving you some more advice. Do not get involved with a guy like Tristin," she said this in a very soothing tone but it just angered Rory more.

Rory pulled away from her mom and looked at her with guarded eyes. "You were practically praising him before," she said in a hushed voice and jumped off the bed proclaiming in a now raised voice. "You were happy about it! You were proud of me!"

Lorelai got up to but didn't try to get closer to Rory. "I know but emotions can change," she said and when Rory stared to reply she quickly continued. "And I'm asking you to change yours. To look at this situation from a different point of view."

Rory looked down for a minute before stepping forward and said in a deathly calm voice. "Don't you think I have? I spent the whole morning looking at it from different perspectives."

"Then you should know that it isn't good idea," Lorelai said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rory said quietly almost cautiously.

"Yes you do. You came to the same conclusions as me. You know that he's only in this for one thing."

"No he's not," her voice was small and feeble.

"He just wants one thing from you Rory! And once he gets it he'll leave you like he's done to all the other girls," she still held her at Rory's tears knowing she had to hear this.

Rory didn't know what to do. Her mom was bringing up the one insecurity that Rory had when it came to Tristin. Could she trust him with her heart?

Lorelai got closer and enveloped Rory in a hug although Rory didn't return the gesture. "I know you think you can change him but you can't. He's a playboy and he will break your heart," she whispered into Rory's ear.

Rory pulled away as if burned. "So that's it? I don't get any decision? You're just playing the mom card and saying that I can't date him end of discussion!" she yelled angrily tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I am," Lorelai stated her tone final.

Rory gulped loudly and wiped the tears from her eyes. She walked towards her door and held it open. "I have to study," she said coldly not looking at Lorelai.

Lorelai nodded mutely and walked out the door which slammed behind her.

---

The rest of the weekend was frigid at the Crap Shack. Lorelai had tried more then one time to try and make conversation with Rory but was met with either a stone wall or Rory's back as she walked away. Lorelai knew the only way to solve the problem was to apologize but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. _Stupid stubbornness!_

She still believed she was right but she was starting to doubt it if her decision was going to alienate daughter. She had observed Rory after she'd come out of her room Saturday after their fight. She'd changed into sweats and her hair was all messy and knotted, she eyes were bright red and her cheeks were stained with tears. Lorelai felt really badly about making her daughter, her best friend cry that hard but she also knew what she'd said had gotten through. Rory seemed to be lost in thought all weekend and she'd taken some Tylenol before bed so either she'd just cried to hard or she was thinking to hard. And knowing Rory it was probably the latter.

---

It was Sunday night and Rory was curled up on her bed in the dark just like she'd been most of the weekend. She'd had a lot of time to think after her and her mom's big fight and she was split down the middle.

One part of her was happy that she'd gotten time to work out her thoughts. She'd looked at it from every single point of view she could think of.

On the other hand she hated the conclusions she found at the end of every thought. She hated that her mother had made her doubt Tristin. And that she now didn't know if she was right and if her mother was wrong.

She decided that she needed another opinion and quickly got dressed and went to her door. Then on second thought she locked it and climbed out her window. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to her mom right now. She snuck past the house and walked down the street towards the Kim house. Once she got there she opened the door and walked in.

"Lane!" she called.

Mrs. Kim walked up behind her. "Lane is studying!" she barked making Rory jump almost a foot off the ground.

Rory caught her breath and turned around. "I know but this is really important," she pleaded, smoothing out her hair. She hadn't looked in a mirror before she left and she was sure she looked like crap.

Mrs. Kim studied her for a moment before relenting and telling her she had ten minutes. Rory thanked her before rushing upstairs to Lane's room. She opened the door, closed it and through herself down on her friends bed. Lane gave her a weird look and quickly pushed Rory up and led her into her closet where they could talk without Lane's mom hearing.

"Okay so you wanna tell me what's wrong or should I guess?" Lane asked after placing a CD in her stereo and starting to pick at Rory's hair.

"Well you know how Tristin and I got a little…comfy with each other Friday night?"

"I'm pretty sure you were a lot more then comfy!" Lane laughed.

Rory blushed beat red and lowered her eyes remembering exactly how comfy she'd been wrapped in his arms. "Anyway," she stressed the word. "My mom was totally cool with it and everything Friday night and all the time before. And now she's totally freaking out!"

Lane looked shocked. Rory and Lorelai rarely fought. "You're kidding! She was so happy for you Friday night!" she exclaimed.

"I know and she was telling me how great it was and that she was proud to have moved it along. And then she went postal yesterday and told me that I couldn't date him!"

"Wow!" Lane didn't know what else to say. She was stunned that Lorelai had done that. She had always been the cool mom and been open to a lot of things.

They both sat there for a while. Each was caught up in their thoughts. Suddenly Lane thought of something. "So are you going to date him?"

Rory fell back. "Great the hard questions!" she exclaimed heavily.

Lane smiled and lay next to Rory. "Come on Rory, you've got to date him," she told her.

Rory turned to look at her. "But Lane my mom made me think and now I don't know if it's such a good idea," she murmured.

"Let me guess she told you that he was going to break your heart and that he was just using you for sex?" Rory nodded soberly. "Rory he's not going to do that. He can't…" she trailed off.

A flash of hope came into Rory's blue eyes. She wanted to believe that so much. "Why?" she asked sensibly.

Lane shook her head at Rory's obliviousness. "Because the guy's in love with you!" she told her.

Rory's eyes bugged out of her head. She couldn't think of that right now. It would just complicate things more. _No, it would make things easier. He can't hurt you if he loves you! _Her treacherous heart told her.

"Listen to me Ror. I'm like the relationship guru; I know my stuff. And I know that Tristin loves you, I that he knows it and I know you would know it if you weren't so naïve," she advised.

Rory decided to ignore that for the moment. "Lane I need you help. I'm in a rut. My mind keeps telling me to be sensible and break it off before it's too late, then my heart tells me to go for it…And my body..." she blushed scarlet and whispered very softly, "my body would jump in front of a moving train if he would just kiss me again."

Lane squealed and hugged her friend. "Oh my God Rory you can't say something like that and then say you're not going to date him!" she admonished Rory still smiling ear to ear from her declaration.

Rory couldn't help but smile. Lane always knew how to cheer her up and she was so grateful to have a friend like her. "I know. But I can't just date him, Lane."

Lane scrunched her eyes together and lifted an eyebrow questioningly. "Why not?"

"Because were total opposites!" Rory declared. "He's the king of Chilton, a playboy and everybody worships him."

Lane nodded following her point. "And you're just the new girl who likes to read."

Rory smiled at Lane's description of her. "And I'm the only girl who ever turned Tristin down."

"And that's when you go straight back into your insecurity that Tristin just wants you to further his reputation," she said.

Rory groaned and buried her face behind a pillow. Her head was starting to hurt again and it had gotten her nowhere. "This is so confusing Lane. Why did I have to start liking him?"

Lane laughed and lifted the pillow off Rory's face. "Because you guys are meant to be together," she said in a wistful voice.

I shot up at that. "What?"

She got up beside me. "Rory it's one of the biggest clichés in the world," she stated. "Cocky, player rich boy falls for smart, sweet innocent girl. They banter, they date, and they fall in love and live happily ever after!" she cried dramatically.

Rory just stared at her for a minute before bursting out in laughter and was soon joined by Lane. It felt so good to laugh that Rory kept on going until she was hiccupping. They both fell back against the wall and sighed.

"That's so not true," Rory told her but was smiling like a fool.

Lane got up and looked at Rory. "Of course it is." Then she got an idea. "And I can prove it."

"How?" Rory questioned curiosity shining in her eyes.

Lane pulled Rory up and after turning off her stereo she pulled Rory out of her closet. Closing the door tightly behind her she walked over to her wallet and took out two five dollar bills.

"You're going to prove it by buying something?" Rory asked confused.

"No. You've seen the movie _Serendipity_ right?"

"Yah," Rory answered starting to understand what Lane was going to do.

"Well we're going to do what they do in the movie. We're going to let fate decide if you should date Tristin or not."

Rory laughed at the absurdity of that idea. She didn't believe in fate, she didn't believe that two people were destined to be together. "Lane that won't work."

"Yes it will you've just got to want it really bad," she explained and wrote something at the top of each bill.

Rory took the two bills and saw her name on one ad Tristin's on the other. "Lane you can't really think this can work?" she asked Lane.

"I do and you do to," she stated confidently.

Rory scoffed, "Oh I do?"

Lane put her shoes on and grabbed her jacket. "Remember how it felt to be pressed up against that locker?" she asked innocently as she left the room.

Rory instantly turned red. She could remember to clearly how good it had felt. "That was evil!" she called down the stairs.

The two girls walked over to the diner. They sat at the counter and waited for Luke to come by and get their orders. They ordered enough so that it would come to over five bucks and with big hopes they gave him the two bills. Both of them were anxious to see what would happen. Would they get the bills back or not?

"So if we don't get them back then it's still your decision to make, but if we do get them back you have to date him," Lane told her.

Rory blushed faintly at the order knowing it wouldn't be too hard to follow. She felt bad though because she would have to either to date him behind her mom's back or she would have to just make Lorelai madder at her then she already was.

"Do you think I should tell Lorelai if I decide to date him?" Rory asked hoping that Lane would give her good advice.

Lane thought about it for a good minute before nodding her head. "You've got to tell her. I mean sure it's just gonna get her even more pissed off but if you guys made up and then she realized you'd been dating him behind her back…"

"Total chaos would ensue, I get your point," Rory said.

---

Rory and Lane ate their food and then they walked around town for a while. They were talking about nothing really important because they didn't want to jinx anything by talking about Tristin. They were sitting on the bridge when Rory remembered that she hadn't told her mom she'd left.

"Hey do you think we could swing by my place. I just want to make sure my mom doesn't start freaking out that I'm gone," Rory told Lane and they started to walk towards the Crap Shack.

When they got there they peeked in through the window and saw that Lorelai was watching TV in the living room. There wasn't anything panicky about her so they decided that she hadn't noticed Rory was gone. Quickly Rory got back into her room through her window and wrote a note that said she'd gone to hang with Lane. She left it on her bed and unlocked her door. As an afterthought she grabbed her wallet and climbed back out the window.

The girls walked towards the center of town again and sat in the gazebo. They just started to talk about going back to Luke's and getting coffee but Miss. Patty came up to them.

"Why hello girls," she purred.

"Hey Miss. Patty," Rory greeted her along with Lane.

"Have you gals heard the latest gossip?" she asked them secretively.

Both girls laughed and told her that they hadn't. Miss. Patty was sitting down next to them an instant later. She motioned for them to come closer and then whispered into their ears.

"You know Jerry Cutler's new wife right?" she asked them.

"Yah, umm, Annabel," Lane said.

Miss. Patty leaned in closer. "Well it seems that she lied about something…" Lane and Rory both looked very curious and urged her to continue. "Seems 25 years old now means 36 years old!" she whispered excitedly.

"No!" Rory exclaimed.

"It's true, Jerry found her birth certificate," Miss. Patty starting laughing. "Funny thing is he left his wife for her and she's a year older!" she told them getting up. "You gotta love the karma!"

"Bye Miss. Patty!" Both girls called after her.

They both got up ready to go back to Luke's when Lane noticed something on the ground. She bent down to pick it up and dropped it right away. "Oh my God!" she screamed and started jumping up and down in true Lane fashion.

Confused Rory started to jump with her. "What are we jumping for?" she asked.

Lane bent down again and showed her the bill. It was a normal five dollar bill but it had a name written in cursive right at the top. Rory took the bill right out of Lane's hand. She couldn't believe it.

"Lane this is one of the bills!" she cried.

Lane nodded her head energetically. They both stared at each other and then started to jump up and down again like crazy people both smiling like fools.

After they calmed down Rory once again looked down at the bill in her hand. She ran her finger over the name written ever so casually at the top_. Rory Gilmore_

"I told you, you guy's are meant to be together!" Lane said.

Rory and Lane started walking back towards the diner. "We still haven't gotten the second bill back okay; this could be just some weird coincidence."

Lane looked at her friend. "We're going to get it back, don't you worry your pretty little head." Rory was staring at the bill, hope was filling her eyes but Lane could tell she was still hearing evil little voices in her head telling her that it was a bad idea.

---

"Oh hey," Rory replies distractedly. She shook her head trying to rid her thoughts and sat up on the couch. "I'm gonna go finish my homework," she told Lorelai. She still wasn't ready to talk to her.

"Oh…okay," Lorelai responded disappointed. "I just thought that maybe we could have a movie night tonight," she threw the idea out there hoping Rory would catch it.

"I have a ton of homework," she answered already standing up and making her way out of the living room. She really hated being this cold to her mom but she was still very angry.

Rory got up onto her bed and got out her homework. She quickly went to work on her math problems and was done almost all of them when the phone rang. She waited a second before answering it.

"Hello?"

"Hey I was just wondering if you'd gotten the other bill yet," Lane's voice came over the phone, a little worried because they only had one night to get it back.

Rory laughed a little. "No I haven't. I haven't gone anywhere since I got home," she told her.

"Rory it's not gonna work if you don't buy something!" Lane almost yelled at her. Then very quietly she added, "You do want it to work, right?"

Rory sighed once again, something she'd been doing a lot lately. She wasn't 100 sure she wanted the other bill back. Sure she'd been praying and hoping all day that she would get it back but she still had this nagging little voice in the back of her head that sounded a lot like her mother. Actually when she closed her eyes she could see her mom dancing around in circles screaming, 'I told you so! I told you so!' "I don't know Lane," Rory admitted.

She heard Lane groan. "Rory what did I tell you about Tristin?" And not even waiting for an answer she continued. "He won't hurt you! You have to trust him!"

And Rory finally let all her emotions go. "Lane you can't know that! Why? Because you don't know Tristin! You haven't gone to school with him, you haven't seen him make girls cry at lunch, you haven't seen the way he treats girls like they're property! You don't know that he won't do the same to me…" and for the millionth time that weekend Rory felt tears spring to her eyes.

Lane felt really bad. She truly didn't know all that stuff and she'd never actually met Tristin…never talked with him or anything. All she knew was the look in his eyes when he had Rory in his arms on Friday night. But she didn't know how to explain that to Rory. It was just her luck that Rory happened to be the most oblivious girl in the world.

"Lane I know you're only trying to help but…I just don't know if I can do it. I don't think I can trust him."

Lane had to try one more time though. "But Rory what about the bills? What about leaving it up to fate?" Lane asked taking one last stab at it.

"Lane do you honestly believe that I'm gonna get that second bill back before I leave for school tomorrow?" Rory asked. She was ready to give up, ready to take her mom's advice and let it go.

"I have to tell you that I'm praying and hoping that you get it back but Rory you've only got tonight," Lane told her sadly.

"Maybe we're really not meant to be…" Rory uttered. She felt her heart sag when she said that. Like a weight had been thrown on top and it was crushing her heart, slowly…ever so slowly.

"What do you think Rory?"

Rory thought about that for a moment before she answered her voice full of raw emotion. "If we aren't meant to be it shouldn't hurt this much…"

She was interrupted by a knock on her door and Lorelai's head popping past it and into her room, a cautious smile on her face. Lorelai had just phoned Sookie and she'd told her all about what had happened between her and Rory. They'd come to the decision that a guy wasn't worth losing Rory over so Lorelai had come prepared to gravel for her daughters affections again.

"Lane I'll call you back later, okay?" she said into the phone.

"Okay…and try not to be too sad."

Rory smiled. "I'll try. Bye," and after Lane said good-bye she hung up the phone and tossed it onto the end of her bed. She looked over at her mom, who was still hovering by the door. "Did you want something?" she asked.

Lorelai cringed at Rory's tone but she knew she deserved it. "How about your acceptance?" she asked timidly.

Rory narrowed her eyes, confused. "My acceptance of what?"

"My apology?" she asked and her hand shot out from behind her back, presenting a small present to Rory.

Rory was shocked. She couldn't believe her mom was actually apologizing and this soon! She was about to reject the offer when she took in the large mug of steaming coffee that had 'I'm sorry!' written on the side. She immediately softened at the peace offering and greedily took the coffee from Lorelai's hands.

"You know you can't get out of this with coffee!" Rory told her, gulping at the beverage until it was gone.

Lorelai nodded, but was smiling at the fact that at least Rory was talking to her again. "I know, and I'm up for graveling if it comes to it!" she promised earning her first real smile from Rory since the fight.

"I don't think you'll have to gravel but I'll keep it in mind," Rory joked.

The two girls didn't say much for a while, happy to have some of the tension gone between them. But Lorelai knew she'd have to get rid of the rest. "So, I guess we should talk about what happened yesterday, huh?" she asked, really not looking forward to the conversation.

Rory sighed. "You mean talk about how you did a complete 180 on me and turned into a huge, ugly Emily clone!"

Lorelai's mouth dropped open. "I was not an Emily clone!" she tried to defend herself but received a withering stare from Rory. "Okay so maybe I did put out a little Emily vibe," she admitted mad at herself. She's always promised herself that she'd never be her mother and when she'd actually done it she didn't even notice.

Rory smiled kindly and scooted closer to her mom. "It was scary," she admitted quietly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about a lot of things…"

"Okay, are you saying you're just sorry about how everything came out or are you saying that you take back what you said?" Rory asked.

Lorelai inwardly groaned and moved closer to sit cross-legged on the bed. "I'm saying I'm sorry for how everything came out and that I'm willing to give everything a chance."

Rory copied her mom's position, a huge smiled spreading over her face. "Mom, I was just really upset because for one; you jumped to conclusions…"

Lorelai interrupted her. "Hey I did not jump! I took a small step and there conclusions were!"

Rory gave her mom a look, asking her to be serious. "Second; you completely freaked and didn't even try to talk about it like we normally do and third…" Rory looked down and said in a small voice, "you really made me think about it."

Lorelai was shocked to hear that and took a minute before answering. "And that's a bad thing?"

Rory looked again. "Yes it's a bad thing! You made second guess the decision I'd already made and then I got so confused I was third guessing and kept going around in circles and my head started to hurt and that made it more difficult to think and…"

"Whoa, calm down Rory. Breath, breath," Lorelai told her, grabbing Rory's hands with hers.

After a few calming breaths Rory was able to talk again. "Listen mom, I just wanna know where you stand in all this."

Lorelai thought about that. She knew what she wanted to say and she knew what she knows she should say. "I guess, I'd tolerate you dating him," she said after a while and when she noticed Rory's face fall she quickly jumped back in. "What? I thought that's what you wanted?"

"What I want is to be able to talk to you about it. To be able to have the both of you in the same room and being nice and friendly to each other," Rory looked at her mom and smiled sadly. "I want to be able to tell you all the details and I want to pick out outfits with you and have you do my hair and…" she could see that what she was saying was really getting to her mom but she still had something to say and so with a breath she continued. "I want to be able to take your advice and I need…for you to be able to trust me."

Lorelai was overwhelmed. She was so happy to hear that Rory wanted her for all those things and that she needed her still. "Oh Rory of course I'll be there. I'll do all those things with you I promise. It's just I was really caught off guard by something the day before," she explained hugging her daughter.

"What caught you off guard?"

Lorelai laughed slightly and stood up and stopped in front of Rory's mirror. "Tristin reminds me of Chris. And I don't want the same thing that happened to me happen to you," she said staring at her reflection.

Rory jumped off the bed and rested her head on Lorelai's shoulder, meeting her mom eyes in the mirror. "I'm not gonna get pregnant mom," she promised and Lorelai could practically hear the Hollywood chorus start up in her head. She felt as if a thousand weights had been lifted off of her.

"That's good to hear," she said thankful to have such a great kid.

"So you're gonna be okay with what I said before? You know the whole talking about it and being at least civil?" Rory needed to be sure even though she was pretty sure she'd made her decision already.

"Yah I'll be okay with it. I don't think I love the idea that you're dating him but I do trust you're judgment so I know there's got to be something special about him!" she told Rory and was awarded with a hug and a smile.

"Thanks mom hat means a lot to me. Although I haven't yet decided for sure if I'm gonna date him. I'm still waiting on something," she replied vaguely.

"Right well why you're…waiting," Lorelai said before grabbing Rory's hand and pulling her into the kitchen and over to her purse. "I got something interesting form Sookie today."

"Oh yah what's that?" Rory asked taking a seat at the table.

Lorelai dug deep into the purse until she retrieved a very small something that she hid in her hand. She turned around for a second. "You know your little Romeo is rich right?" she asked.

Rory rolled her eyes at her mom's pet name for Tristin. "Yah he's pretty rich."

"I bet you didn't know he'd had his own five dollar bill!" she said s she turned around proudly presenting a crinkled five dollar bill with the name Tristin Dugrey written on the top.

Rory went completely still, she froze. She kept her eyes transfixed on the bill, a million thoughts swimming in her mind.

"Rory?" Lorelai asked. It looked like Rory had shut down or something. "Rory?" she asked again waving her hand in front of Rory's face and smacking her.

"Oh my God!" Rory exclaimed rather loud and grabbed the bill out of her mom's hands. She hadn't expected to get it back. She'd almost given up all hope and now here she was holding the second bill in her hand. She finally felt the chasm in her heart heal.

"Okay Rory why don't you let mommy know what's going on?" Lorelai asked.

"Okay I went to lanes today and she kept on telling me that Tristin and I were like destined to be together but I didn't believe her so then she decided we'd try the whole '_Serendipity_' thing."

Lorelai caught on, having seen that movie a hundred times. "You wrote his name on a bill and…"

"We wrote his name and mine on two separate bills and we used them at Luke's," she finished her mom's sentence, still staring down at the bill with wonder.

Much to her daughters dismay Lorelai took the bill from her hand. "And now you have this one."

Rory ran into her room and grabbed the other bill off her nightstand and the phone then ran back to the kitchen. "I have both of them," she said handing the other bill to Lorelai.

"Wow, that's…wow!" Lorelai exclaimed. Unlike her daughter who'd only now started believing in fate, Lorelai had always believed that each person had a soul mate and were destined to be together.

"I'm gonna call Lane," she told her mom already dialling the Kim house and waiting until Lane answered. "Lane! Oh my God! I go the other bill back!" Rory yelled into the phone almost hysterical.

"You did? That's amazing! Now you know! You can totally date him because you guys are meant to be together!" Lane was so happy for her friend she was jumping up and down in her room.

Rory's smile grew and she looked over at her mom who had a huge smile plastered on her face as well. "Yah and my mom's okay with it!"

"You guys made up?" Lane asked.

"Yah," Rory told her happily.

"That's so great Rory," she said and then heard her mom call her back downstairs. "Hey I wish I could celebrate but I'm going to evening mass, sorry," Lane told her apologetically.

"That's okay. Meat us at Luke's tomorrow?" Rory asked quickly.

"Sure, bye."

"Bye," Rory said before hanging up and tossing the phone onto the dining room table.

Rory sat down at the table again beside her mom and grinned happily. The suddenly a thought sprang into her mind and her smile fell.

"What's wrong hon?" Lorelai asked.

"What am I going to do tomorrow when I see him?" Rory asked her mom panicked.

And Lorelai laughed before pulling Rory into the living room so they could talk more comfortably. She had to teach her daughter a couple of things and knowing Rory it might take a while.

---

_Sorry about the no trory action in this chapter! I was planning on having it in this one but then I decided that since this was taking place in season two I really needed to have Rory think about what could happen and not just jump right into it. I hope you guys still like this chapter…please read and review!_

_-Ella_


	4. Kiss The Girl

_He'd be a fool not to…_

Lorelai woke Monday morning with a cheery feeling flowing inside her. She wanted to jump out of bed and sing to the birds in the trees and welcome the sun to another beautiful day. With a huge smile she got out of her cozy bed and slipped into her blue puffy bathrobe and her matching slippers. Shuffling down the stairs and into the kitchen, she hummed a random tune from _'The Little Mermaid'_, her favourite Disney movie. She turned on her coffee maker patting him, Bert, lovingly on his 'head' before walking off into the living room. Being in the good mood she was, she picked up all the stray magazines from the coffee table, the floor and the couch. After returning them to their regular place and fixing up the couch itself she heard the coffee machine finish. Hurriedly she jogged to the machine and poured herself a cup of hot java. She sipped at it for a moment in pure ecstasy before filling another cup and walking into her daughter's bedroom. She placed the cup on the night side table, knowing without a doubt that Rory wouldn't not wake up to the smell of coffee.

Lorelai plopped herself down onto a chair at the kitchen table and opened a box of pop tarts that were lying there. She took out one and stuck it in her mouth, and then she took out another for Rory and placed it on a napkin beside her. Still humming she ate the pop tart and true enough she heard the soft padding of feet come out of Rory's room. Looking up she beamed at her daughter who returned it and sat down next to her. The two ate their breakfast slowly, savouring the taste of their coffee and pop tarts, two of their favourite things to eat.

"So are we going to Luke's this morning?" Rory asked, trying to keep the discussion casual. She so did not want to talk about anything relating to Tristin right now. She was beyond nervous.

Lorelai almost choked on her pop tart. "Since when do you even have to ask? Going to Luke's has been a tradition for us…its bigger then Christmas!" she exclaimed, her inner drama queen coming out.

Rory giggled happy her mom wasn't going to question her about anything. The night before had been hard enough. Rory hadn't thought so hard about anything, not even school work. She was pretty sure she'd fried her brain in the process but it all resulted in good things. Rory now had the support of her mom and the two had come up with many different scenarios that would help Rory this morning at school. But even with all the preparation Rory still felt like her stomach was the new cage for Dudley the Dragon or some animal just as large.

"Okay I get it, we're going to Luke's," she said, surrendering herself in a joking manner. "I'm just gonna get ready," she said this in an almost constricted voice.

Lorelai smiled encouragingly at her daughter and patted her on the shoulder as she walked by. She couldn't even come to terms with how nervous and anxious Rory must be feeling right now. She, herself, was worried enough for the both of them but she did admire her daughter's courage. Rory was going to surrender herself to someone who is her complete opposite. Lorelai closed her eyes and breathed in trying to calm herself down and be strong and supportive for Rory.

Meanwhile in her room Rory was standing in front of her mirror. This was something she did every day but she'd never in the longest time stood there for about ten minutes fixing her hair and her uniform. She couldn't place it but she felt as if she needed to be more like the girls at Chilton if she was going to date Tristin. She'd never felt self-conscious before this. She'd always been told she was beautiful but never believed it. If she was truthful with herself she knew she was pretty. Once again her hand went to fix her hair but she stopped herself. This was crazy; she wasn't going to change her appearance for a guy, even if this guy happened to be the king of Chilton. So with one final look she picked up her back pack and walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

"I'm ready," she announced and her mother bounced out of her seat and out the front door.

The girls walked drove to Luke's in record speed, both having a huge craving for the flannel mans coffee. After they parked the car they both hurried into the diner and took seats at the counter.

"Luke!" Lorelai called.

Luke came out of the kitchen with his usual gruff scowl on. He saw the two Gilmore's and turned around trying to sneak back into the kitchen.

"Luke! We need our coffee!" Lorelai whined, using her puppy dog eyes on him.

Groaning Luke walked over to the coffee machine and poured two cups. He handed them to the mother and daughter and retreated back into the kitchen saying something about how they would die young.

"So what's the plan for today?" Lorelai asked, turning on her stool to face Rory.

Her daughter cringed at the question. "I don't know. I don't think I can do it," she exclaimed worriedly.

Lorelai smiled reassuringly. "Yes you can. It's not that hard."

Rory's blue eyes went wide when she realized something. "Mom how can you be so confident about this? Tristin didn't even call me all weekend! What if he regrets it or…"

Lorelai placed her hand over Rory's mouth stopping her rant. "Ror, hon, I might not be Tristin's number one fan or anything but I know for sure that he doesn't regret what happened."

Rory breathed in and moved her mom's hand away from her mouth. "And again I ask how can you be so sure?"

"Rory I was brought up in the same world as Tristin, which means I can read him pretty well," she patted Rory's knee gently. "And I know for sure that Bible Boy was truly happy on Friday. Not even someone who lives in the Hartford high society could fake that kind of emotion."

Rory smiled graciously at her mom. She was slowly regaining some of the confidence she'd had on Friday. Although she was sure it didn't matter…once she saw Tristin at school it would all melt away. "Thanks mom," Rory said.

Lorelai just shrugged it off. "Luke we need more coffee!" she yelled into the kitchen holding out her empty mug.

Luke walked into the diner, drying a mug off with an old rag. He looked confusedly at the two girls and then up at the clock on the wall. "What are you two still doing here?" he asked them.

Lorelai looked up at the clock and gasped. "Oh no! Rory we must have slept in or something!"

Rory's attention snapped over to the clock also and she almost choked on the muffin she'd taken from Luke's counter. "Oh no, my bus! I missed my bus!" she exclaimed, her good mood disappearing.

Lorelai went straight into thinking mode and came up with a plan. "Okay here take the jeep," she handed Rory the keys for the car. "And please don't hit a deer this time!" she told her daughter who was already heading out the door.

"I'm telling you, it hit me!" Rory exclaimed before waving to her mom and Luke and hurrying over to the jeep.

---

_Percussion   
Strings  
Winds  
Words_

Tristin had hurried to school that morning. He'd positioned himself at the end of the hall, facing the doors he knew she would come in. He'd been talking with his friends for about 15 minutes now, but he really wasn't paying much attention. All he could think about, all he'd thought about for the whole weekend had been the feeling of having Rory in his arms.

His father had made him go to social functions and meetings at the club all weekend. His father had been mad at him all weekend and he let Tristin be sure of that. He'd threatened him that if he didn't pull his grades up and start acting like a Dugrey then he would find himself on a plane heading North Carolina.

Tristin had been thankful that his dad had let him stay but he knew it wasn't his decision. If his dad had his way Tristin probably never would have been born. They'd already had the perfect son, why would they need another one? His grandfather was the one who made Carter Dugrey leave his son alone. Tristin's dad hated the fact that he was still being controlled by his father, but Tristin loved it. And it was because Tristin's grandfather was the only person in his family whom he respected and actually cared for. And he loved the fact that he was in charge of the family and not his father.

But when he realized that his dad wasn't leaving him any free time he'd gotten really mad at his dad. And that was why he'd gotten here so early. He hadn't had the chance of talking to Rory all weekend. Never mind not being able to hold her or kiss her.

And then he saw her. She walked into the school, her blue eyes twinkling with happiness and her smile stretching wide. She looked even more beautiful then she normally did and all Tristin could do was remind himself to breathe. She gracefully walked over to her locker which was just by the front doors, still not aware of his unwavering stare. He kept on watching her, the urge to run over and wrap her up in his arms was becoming almost impossible to resist.

_There you see her  
Sitting there across the way  
She don't got a lot to say  
But there's something about her_

He excused himself from his friends and pushed away from the lockers on which he'd been leaning against. He sauntered towards Rory's locker, not even noticing all the girls trying to get his attention. He'd never understood how Rory could do that. Make him forget about everything and everyone, and make him focus just on her. He knew as he watched her remove all the books she'd need for the morning that he had changed and that she had changed him.

_And you don't know why  
But you're dying to try  
You wanna kiss the girl _

He'd made his way to her locker and leaned up against the one beside it. She had yet to notice him so he took the time to memorize her. He loved everything about her. The way her coffee coloured hair would always fall in her eyes and shield her face from others, the way she would bite her lip when she was thinking real hard about something or if she was nervous, the way her eyes sparkled and shined with happiness or amusement, the way her innocence wrapped around her, the way he could make her blush with one comment. But most of all he loved the way everything about her drove him crazy.

_Yes, you want her  
Look at her, you know you do  
It's possible she wants you, too  
There is one way to ask her  
It don't take a word  
Not a single word  
Go on and kiss the girl _

He'd thought all weekend about if Rory regretted what had happened between them. He'd known that they had probably gone a little fast for her but he just couldn't control himself around her. And now that he'd tasted her, he knew he was a goner. He was addicted to her. He also knew that if she told him that she regretted it and that she wanted them to be friends, his heart would break into a million pieces.

_Sing with me now  
Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
My, oh, my  
Look at the boy too shy  
He ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Sha-la-la-la-la-la   
Ain't that sad  
Ain't it a shame, too bad  
You gonna miss the girl_

She dropped down to her knees and zipped up her bag. He gulped nervously –one trait he'd thought he'd never possess- and watched as she stood up and finally noticed him. He saw a hundred different emotions flash in her blue depths. First was surprise and the last one, the strongest one was apprehension.

She finally straightened out and desperate for something to do she closed her locker and slowly locked it. He watched her closely; he could see her take in a breath and close her eyes for a moment before she turned to face him completely. Blue met blue. Tristin couldn't help but smirk at how nervous she was – such nervousness making is attraction for her grow.

Rory blushed at the smirk, not so much the action of it but the urge that almost took over her. She'd known it would be hard to face him buts she hadn't known it would be this hard. And did he have to look so good? Well sure he was wearing the same uniform as every other guy at Chilton but he made it sexy. The way he had the first couple of buttons of his shirt undone and the way his tie hung loosely around his neck. His oh-so-soft blonde hair was as unruly as ever and Rory itched to run her fingers through it again. But it was the way he was leaning that really did it for her. Tristin had this way of leaning, not one guy at this school could do it as good as Tristin. But today he was doing it with a sexy devil may care attitude and it made Rory forget everything she'd planned.

_Now's your moment_

_Floating in a blue lagoon_

_Boy you better do it soon_

_No time will be better_

_She don't say a word_

_And she won't say a word until you,_

_Kiss the girl_

Rory offered him a small smile and he gladly returned it. All around them people talked loudly and yelled to others down the hall, banged on their lockers and dropped their heavy textbooks on the ground, but Tristin and Rory didn't hear any of it. They were lost in each other. They once again fell into the same trance that had taken over them on Friday and the thought of that made another blush settle on Rory's cheeks. She ducked her head and let her hair fall in front of her eyes, shielding herself from his penetrating gaze. She always felt like he was looking deep into her being and finding the answers to all of his questions.

Tristin on the other hand was now almost certain that she didn't regret anything that happened between them. If she did she would have already come out and said it was a mistake or something like that. He smiled at that thought because he was finally in the position he'd wanted to be in ever since he figured out that she was more then a conquest or a challenge. He noticed her blush and couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. He voiced that thought, knowing he would have had to talk first anyway.

"What you thinking in that pretty little head of yours, Mary?" The question fell from his lips smoothly but coated with so much adoration. His nickname for her was not annoying anymore and she thought of it as more of an endearment or a pet name.

"Thinking about Friday," she told him, still looking at her shoes, her blush getting redder. She saw him shift and curiously lifted her eyes to meet his once again. She gasped at how close he was, his deep blue eyes searching for hers. She knew there was double meaning to what she'd just said and she knew from the intensity of his gaze that he'd understood it perfectly. She didn't regret Friday, not at all.

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la   
Don't be scared  
You got the mood prepared  
Go on and kiss the girl  
Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
Don't stop now  
Don't try to hide it how  
You wanna kiss the girl_

Tristin lowered his gaze, glancing at her small, glossy lips and unconsciously licking his own. Rory felt a tingle shoot through her, than she felt his large hand take hold of hers. A wave of heat overtook her body and she found herself moving closer to him. He slowly brought his eyes back to hers and that warm feeling in the pit of her stomach grew and grew and when he flashed her his trademark smirk it exploded like a volcano. Without thinking about it she came even closer to him and tentatively placed her free hand on his chest. She could feel his stomach muscles tighten underneath her palm and saw his eyes flash with desire. And before she knew what was happening he snaked his free arm around her waist and pulled her to him making her bump into him.

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la   
Float along  
Listen to the song  
The song say kiss the girl   
Sha-la-la-la-la-la  
Music play  
Do what the music say  
You wanna kiss the girl_

Rory gasped at the sudden contact and lowered her hand shyly. Tristin chuckled softly; he took his hand out of hers and brought his finger up to her chin. He gently brought her chin up and gave her a boyish grin. He trailed his finger up to her lips and traced them before letting it go up to her cheek. Ever so slowly, he backed her up until she hit the lockers. Taking in a deep breath and trying to calm herself down, Rory wound both her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

_You've got to kiss the girl  
You wanna kiss the girl  
You've gotta kiss the girl  
Go on and kiss the girl_

She stared into his blue eyes, beckoning him closer. He leaned forward and let his hand, that had been resting on her cheek, delve into her velvety soft hair. They both closed their eyes and unaware of the crowd watching their every move, their lips met.

She felt all the same emotions come right back to her from Friday, and she moaned slightly at the electricity shooting through her. She parted her lips a little and his tongue instantly ran along her upper lip begging for entrance, which she granted him. Tristin was in heaven once again, he practically growled and pulled her closer to him, never wanting to let her go. She lifted her hands from his neck and ran them through his hair, grasping at the base of his head and pushing him harder against her. Tristin's emotions were running wild, he couldn't control himself. He trailed one and down her side and possessively gripped her hips. He passionately sucked her bottom lip into his mouth and when she moaned he took the opportunity to once again plunder her hot mouth with his tongue.

Although her mind was clouded and hazy, Rory still registered that she needed to breathe badly. So she brought her hands down to his chest and applied a slight amount of pressure, pushing him back. Tristin knew what she was doing, but he didn't want to stop, not now not ever. He groaned in protest, and started to kiss her more softly, hoping she wouldn't push him away completely. She pushed a little harder this time and Tristin finally broke away from her. He kept her in his arms and rested his forehead against hers, breathing in violently.

Copying his actions Rory felt her cheeks grow hot. She'd never before done anything like that with Dean, never even thought of doing something like that. Sure they'd kissed and gone a little further –first base probably. But that had been after a long time and now she'd just made out with Tristin in the middle of a hallway…

"Oh my God!" she whispered harshly her eyes widening and her blush darkening. Tristin pulled his head away from hers but still maintained contact, he looked over her trying to find out what was wrong but he couldn't see anything.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, worry shining through his eyes.

Rory couldn't bring herself to say anything. She just nodded her head to behind him before burying it in his chest, trying to hide from the world, her embarrassment threatening to overwhelm her. Tristin's hand came up and gently comb through her silky tresses trying to comfort her. He turned his head around and instantly everyone who had been watching them turned around or left, not wanting to get caught by the King of Chilton. Anger slowly boiled inside of him, he used to love it when people watched him with his flavour of the week…but this was Rory and he wanted to shield her from that kind of stuff. He really didn't care himself, but if something hurt Rory or made Rory uncomfortable then he'd be damned if he didn't do something about it.

"Hey, it's okay. Their gone," he whispered soothingly, placing a gentle kiss on her head.

Rory lifted her head up from his shirt, peeking behind him and saw that indeed no one was watching them anymore. She smiled gratefully and turned her head up to look at him again, her cheeks still flushed. She was about to say something when the bell rang. Tristin groaned, his forehead coming to rest against hers again.

Rory laughed softly. "Tristin, we have to get to class," she told him gently, bringing her hand up to his hair, loving how soft it was.

He reluctantly pulled away from her, his body going cold at the sudden lack of heat her body had been supplying him with. He groaned out of displeasure but still bent down to pick up her bag off the floor. She protested but he remained adamant and she finally gave in. He walked her to her first period class.

"I'll see you in second period," he told her, backing her up against the wall beside her door.

Rory blushed, her mind screaming at her to push him away because she could feel the stares they were receiving, but her body betrayed her and she found her rebellious hands traveling up his chest again to tangle in his hair. He smiled a genuine smile and bent down to place a loving kiss on her soft lips. Pulling away before he got lost in her again, he gave her her bag and pulled away.

Rory stood their, rooted to the spot watching him saunter down the hall. She mentally slapped herself for forgetting everything she'd planned on telling him. She spilled into class right before the second bell rang and seat herself in her assigned seat. She resigned to tell him at lunch.

---

_The lyrics in this chapter were from The Little Mermaid, 'Kiss the girl'. I hope everyone liked this chapter, and the trory action in it!_

_NE way, thanks to everyone who reviewed and please review this one to…I live off of the reviews,_

_-Ella _


	5. Not Invisible Anymore

Disclaimer: Keep forgetting to put this up...Anyway, I don't own Gilmore Girls, only my DVD's!

He'd Be A Fool Not To…

"Okay class I want you to read chapters 16 and 17 and complete the questions at the end of each chapter."

The class groaned all together; they had their texts open and they could see that each chapter had more then ten questions.

"And I want it done for tomorrow," the teacher told her class, an innocent smile playing on her lips.

Rory, who was sitting beside Paris, at the back of the class, wrote all that down automatically even though she really hadn't been paying attention to what they'd learned about that period.

Bringing her elbow onto the desk she sighed into her palm, staring into space, losing herself in her thoughts. Thoughts that were still centering on Tristin. She smiled at how much he'd love that idea. Rory made a mental note to try and make sure not to tell him about it.

"You know it helps to answer the questions if you actually read them," Paris said after watching Rory stare at nothing for the past 5 minutes.

Rory blushed slightly but turned to address Paris fully. "I know that Paris," she told the blonde dryly.

Paris shrugged her shoulders just as the bell rang, dismissing every class and signalling it was time for lunch. Everyone in the class packed up their books and made their way out of the classroom and either to their lockers or to the cafeteria. Everyone except Rory however. She wasn't as eager for lunch as everyone else. Actually she'd been dreading it for some time now. But she repeated to herself over and over again that she had to tell him and that now was the best time. And so with that thought she packed her books into her bag and slowly walked out the class. Her steps got smaller and her pace slowed down when she saw the doors to the cafeteria.

Drawing in a big breath and trying to slow her heart beat down a few notches she walked into the cafeteria. Rory had always been used to being invisible at Chilton. People didn't talk to her, they didn't see her really; she was still the new girl that didn't fit in. And she'd come to expect it. You could even say she counted on it. So you could imagine her surprise and embarrassment when every pair of eyes landed on her and the room went dead silent.

Rory's heart tripled, she was so sure every one in the cafeteria could hear it. Her blue eyes were as wide as they could go as she took in all their faces. The shocked ones, the curious ones. The millions of jealous and icy stares from most of the girls. Her breathing was coming out laboured now, as she was not used to being the centre of attention.

She was just about to walk in, was about to show everyone that she wouldn't be unnerved by them, when she caught sight of the table that Tristin Dugrey occupied. He was watching her with his blue, blue eyes but it wasn't him that shattered her confidence. It was guys that were sitting with him. They all had huge grins on their faces and they were patting him on the back, congratulating him. And even though she could see that Tristin wasn't even paying attention to his entourage it didn't help. And so with one last look at him she turned around and fled the cafeteria.

Tristin watched her fly out of the room, his heart heavy, feeling so bad for her. He cursed himself for coming to the cafeteria. He should have gone to her last class, but the guys had dragged him to their table. He was getting up to go after her when he finally heard what his friends were saying.

"Way to go T-man! Finally nailed the Gilmore chick!"

It echoed around the table, and every time he heard Tristin got even madder. He'd never had this sort of reaction before when his friends would all praise him for landing his conquest. But Rory wasn't a conquest, she was so much more then that. He wanted nothing more then to pound the guys surrounding him for driving her away but he knew that Rory needed him more so he ignored them and got up from his seat. But just as he stood he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked beside him to see his friend Gary. He had the knuckle of his pointer finger in his mouth and he was looking at the spot Rory had just been standing on.

"Man, I'd love to get me some of that girl!" he exclaimed.

Fired burned dangerously in Tristin's dark blue eyes as he came closer to Gary. "You just couldn't leave it alone, could you?" he asked in a menacing tone and smacked Gary over the head with only a little force before he took off in the same direction Rory had taken.

He jogged through the halls until he got to the front doors to the school. He didn't know where Rory would go, either the library or outside in the quad. He pushed open one of the heavy doors and walked out onto the steps. He spotted her instantly. She was sitting on one of the many benches that adorned the front of Chilton. Tristin walked over to her, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants. He slid onto the bench beside her, leaving a bit of space between them.

Rory sniffled a bit but didn't look at him. She didn't want him to see the tears swimming in her eyes; she didn't want him to know how much that had affected her. When she had ran from the cafeteria she'd started flashing back to what had been bugging her all weekend. She wasn't the type of girl Tristin dated. They all welcomed attention like that, they strived for it. But Rory was the exact opposite, and she didn't know if Tristin understood that.

"Hey," Tristin started gently. He slid closer to Rory on the bench and reached out with his hand, pushing back her hair that was hiding her face. He didn't move his hand from its place buried in her hair though. He loved the feeling of those silky strands against his fingers. "Rory?"

The girl in question immediately snapped her attention to him, feeling a blush creep up her neck; she wasn't used to him calling her by her first name. "Yah?" she managed to get out, surprised her voice was working.

Tristin sent her one of his famous smirks, and she felt her blush deepen. "Are you okay?" he asked after a second, the mood changing drastically.

Rory averted her eyes and was about to lower her head but Tristin placed his fingers on her chin. She was forced to look at him again and when she met his eyes she almost melted. They were so caring and compassionate, love and adoration pouring from them. She had been about to tell him it was nothing and that she was fine but with one look into his eyes she couldn't bring herself to lie. "I just don't like being…the centre of attention," Rory told him softly.

Tristin finally let go of her chin and ran that hand through his hair, exhaling. "I know," he said in a low voice. "God I feel like such a jerk. I should have warned you about that. But I just didn't…"

"You didn't think about it. You're used to it…" Rory broke the eye contact they'd had for a while. "The girls you usually date don't care about it either."

Tristin's eyebrows furrowed at that comment. He once again lifted her chin and looked into her beautiful blue eyes, hoping to find some sort of clue as to what she was feeling. And like always he wasn't let down, Rory had always been an open book, he's always been able to read her and know exactly how she felt with only one look into her eyes. And right now he saw doubt, loads of it. "Rory, those other girls don't matter. They didn't mean anything to me. You do and I need to know that you understand that." Tristin maintained eye contact throughout his little speech, so he'd know if she understood him.

Rory didn't know how to respond to that. She hadn't been prepared for that and now she was downright floored. "I'm different then the others?" she questioned tentatively.

Tristin gave her one of his genuine smiles that he saved only for her. "Of course you are," he told her reassuringly and was rewarded with a small smile from Rory. "So, are you okay Rory?" he asked, stilled overwhelmingly concerned for her.

Rory nodded her head a couple of times. "I'm okay. It's just gonna take a while for me to get used to all that attention," she explained it for him.

Tristin frowned a bit. "Don't worry about it too much. It won't always be like this, I promise. In a couple of weeks we'll be old news."

He had said the last part jokingly but it made Rory's insides heat up and her cheeks redden. She couldn't help but break out into a smile and feel all giddy inside. Tristin had just inadvertently told her that he thought they were going to be together for a couple of weeks. "A couple of weeks, huh?" she teased him, her smile still not wavering.

Tristin seemed confused for a bit before he caught on to what she was asking. He moved even closer to her, and bent his head down to her ear, making her body shudder. "Trust me Mary, I'm not going anywhere," he whispered hotly into her ear, before placing a small kiss on the shell of it. He pulled back a fraction of an inch so he could meet her eyes, which were as blue as he could ever remember.

Despite the volcano of heat erupting inside her, Rory managed to find her voice and finally expressed to him what she was so worried about. "Can I really trust you?"

Tristin pulled back a bit. He'd been expected that question but hearing it actually come from her lips was entirely different. He was silent for a moment, a dull flash of pain coming into his eyes, before he immediately covered it up. He hated the fact that Rory still had doubts about their relationship, about him. And even though he knew that his reputation didn't point him out as the most trustworthy person in the world, it still hurt. "Listen, Rory, I know that I haven't really given you any reason to trust me but I'm telling you now. I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you or let anyone else hurt you." Tristin was staring into her eyes trying to convince her. He grabbed her hand with his, and slowly rubbed the pad of his thumb against her palm, sending warmth throughout her body. "I'm giving you my word," he whispered lovingly, and brought her hand up to his mouth where he placed a small kiss on it.

Rory could feel her defences weakening as she continued to drown in his beautiful blue eyes. She didn't understand how he knew exactly what to say to make all her doubts disappear. She offered him a little smile, which he reciprocated gladly and placed another kiss on her hand. "How much is your word really worth?" she asked him, but the sparkle in her eye told him she was joking.

Tristin felt himself flood with relief that he'd managed to convince her. He couldn't be happier as he grabbed onto her wrist gently and tugged her closer to him. Rory was settled right up beside him, their eyes boring into each others. He leaned down closer to her and when his lips were inches away from hers he breathed out his answer: "Oh about a pretty penny these days."

Rory smiled, her eyes lighting up, making her look absolutely beautiful to Tristin. He couldn't help himself as his gaze slipped down to her glossy lips. Slowly he brought his eyes back up to hers, a single question burning inside his almost black depths. Rory was beyond shocked to see that much desire in his eyes, and for her! She didn't trust her voice at that moment so all she did was bring her head closer, letting her lips brush against his. Tristin's eyes closed instantly and he took his hand away from her wrist and slid it around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Rory complied and wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing herself into him. As she felt the pressure of his mouth increase, she knew that she should stop this before it got out of control. Rory unhooked her arms from around Tristin's neck but let them travel down to his chest, stalling the inevitable. Tristin could fell her start to slowly draw back from him and he was instantly plagued with disappointment. He never wanted her to leave his embrace, but he knew that she was going to any minute now. Trying to hold onto to her for a bit longer he let one of his hands creep up her back and dive into her hair. He placed his hand on the back of her head and carefully tilted it to the side, angling her perfectly. Before Rory could protest, not that she actually wanted to, Tristin delved his tongue into her mouth and met her own. Throwing all her doubts and cautions out the window Rory let out a low moan as he massaged his tongue against her own. She wound her arms once again around his neck and let him take control, enjoying every minute of it.

"I knew there was something going on between you two!" A rough voiced cut through the haze that had been surrounding Rory and Tristin.

Rory opened her eyes seeing the figure of Paris Gellar standing right beside her, a very hostile look on her face. Rory could immediately feel her embarrassment creep up her neck, not to mention the enormous amount of guilt that threatening to boil over inside her. She finally applied the pressure to Tristin's chest she'd been planning to do before and she pushed him away from her.

He groaned at the lack of contact between them when Rory moved herself further down the bench. Tristin closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself down. When he opened his eyes he was about to pull her closer to him again when he noticed finally saw Paris. "What do you want Paris?" he asked her with indifference, very annoyed that she'd interrupted his moment with Rory.

Rory glared at him and smacked his knee before she turned to look at Paris again. "Listen Paris I didn't want you to find out like this. I was going to tell you," she tried to explain to Paris so that the blonde would understand. She really didn't want Paris to become her number one enemy again.

Despite how much she wanted to hate Rory Gilmore right now Paris couldn't bring herself to. She knew how nice Rory could be; she'd experienced it first hand many times. And truthfully Rory was her only friend at Chilton except for Louise and Madelyn, and she knew deep down she didn't want to lose that friendship. But she couldn't overlook how much it hurt to see Rory with Tristin; the man she'd loved since she could remember. Paris looked at Rory again and she could see the guilt swimming in her eyes and Paris knew how bad Rory must feel and so she made a decision right then. "It's okay, Gilmore," she told Rory, her voice softening a little and her expression becoming a lot more friendly. Paris stood there for a moment, the three of them bathing in an awkward silence, before Paris turned around and left.

"Did we step into the twilight zone or something?" Tristin asked, breaking the silence.

Rory looked over at him, her blue eyes filled to the brim with confusion. "I think Paris might have finally gotten over her crush on you, or at least is trying to move past it," she told him, still not believing it herself.

Tristin was silent for a minute before his trade mark smirk spread across his face. "I never thought I'd see the day," he exclaimed smoothly, watching Paris trudge towards the other side of the school.

That comment earned him another smack from Rory. "Shut up Tristin!"

"Ouch! You'll pay for that missy," he told her, his voice low and dangerous.

Rory looked over at him playfully. "Oh really, what's my punishment?" she asked him, surprising herself at how bold she was around him now.

Tristin's eyes widened before darkening considerably as he reached across the bench and grabbed her hand. He pulled her closer to him, until they were mere inches apart. "This," he breathed sensually right on her lips before swooping down to capture them with his own.

Rory moaned at the contact and let herself get wrapped up in him for a minute before she broke away from him again. She let her forehead fall against his, as they both breathed raggedly, trying to calm down. Rory slowly brought her head back and placed a small kiss on his lips but pulled away before he could do anything.

"Rory, you really have to stop doing that," he mumbled.

Rory smiled, glad that she had that kind of affect on him. "Well then Tris, I know for sure that you're gonna hate the rule I just came up with," she told him matter of factly.

Tristin groaned, he was pretty sure he knew just what kind of rule she was talking about. "Please don't say what I think you're going to say," he pleaded with her.

Rory copied his exact smirk before she replied. "No PDA. I'm sorry Tristin but I'm just not that comfortable making out in front of the whole school," she told him.

Tristin looked devastated with the idea. "But you've done it already a couple of times," he tried to explain to her.

"Yah I know, but it's not going to happen again," she told him firmly.

Tristin looked around for a moment before dropping down closer to her. "Not even if I do this?" he asked, as his hand pushed away the hair from her shoulder and he planted a small kiss right on her neck.

Rory tilted her neck to the side enjoying the sensations he made her feel before she pulled back. "Tristin that's cheating!" she exclaimed, but couldn't help the small smile from playing on her lips.

Tristin looked defeated as he let his head fall onto her shoulder. "You can't do this to me Mary," he murmured.

Rory let her hand travel up to his hair, where it dived into the soft blonde locks. She absolutely loved his hair, she'd come to notice. "Yes I know it's going to be hell for you, but it won't be all contact gone."

Tristin brightened a bit and pulled back from her shoulder. "So I can still kiss you?" he asked hopefully.

Rory pulled her hand back and smiled at him. "As long as you can control yourself," she warned him.

Tristin brought his hand up, his first three fingers pointed upright. "Scouts honour," he told her a smirk playing on his lips.

Rory laughed at that and it brought a real smiled to Tristin's lips. He loved her laugh and he loved it even more when he was the one who caused it. Their moment was interrupted when the bell signalling the end of lunch rang throughout the quad. "We should go Mary," Tristin told her as he stood up from the bench and stuck out his hand.

Rory smiled again and grabbed his hand, letting him pull her up from the bench and close to his side. She couldn't stop herself from smiling, everything seemed to be so perfect and she couldn't be happier.


	6. Visiting Stars Hollow

_Disclaimer: I don't Gilmore Girls...so sad. _

_He'd Be A Fool Not To…_

Rory was just stepping out of her last class for the day when she felt a familiar tingle run up her spine. She instantly knew that Tristin was around there somewhere. The way she could sense when he was around unnerved her and excited her at the same time. It was something totally different for her but she was welcoming it along with all the other new quirks that came with Tristin. There was still one thing she wasn't used to yet though…

"Hey Gilmore!" Paris called her as she left the classroom to.

Rory turned around waiting for Paris to catch up with her. She was very unsure of how this conversation was going to happen. She hadn't talked to Paris ever since lunch even though they'd been in the same classes, she just didn't feel comfortable. But now she didn't have a choice as the girl herself fell into step with her.

"What do you think about the essay?" Paris asked, staring straight ahead.

Rory's blue eye's clouded with confusion for a moment before she shook herself out of it. "Well, it seems like it's going to be hard," she said lamely.

Paris finally looked over at her, raising an eyebrow before she once again turned her attention to the mass of people in the hallway. "I've already got my idea and the outline planned. What about you?"

Rory sighed, accepting the fact that Paris wasn't going to bring up what happened at lunch. "I think I have my idea to, but I might change it," Rory informed her as both girls stopped at their neighbouring lockers.

As Paris opened her locker she paused to look over at Rory. "Just so you know mines about human rights," she said, looking down to rifle through her notes and pulling out a piece of lined paper and handing to Rory.

"Okay," Rory said as she took the paper and looked it over. The underlined title caught her attention quickly, 'Affirmative Action: Equality of Minorities'.

"Just so you don't decide to use that as your subject," Paris explained snatching the paper back and putting it back into her binder.

Rory rolled her eyes as she packed all her homework and books into her bag. "Don't worry Paris. I'm not gonna do the same paper as you," she told her, her backpack on the ground and her locker closed. She took that time to look over her shoulder, trying to see if she might be able to spot Tristin.

Unbeknownst to her Paris was watching her and was feeling a slight pain because she knew that her chance with Tristin –if she'd even had one to begin with- was gone. He'd gotten Rory; the one girl Paris had ever witnessed him care about. But she forced herself to be strong and commanded that she get over her crush on Tristin. "He's over there," she told Rory making the brunette jump.

Rory looked over at Paris who was motioning behind herself down the hall. Rory followed her hand and saw Tristin leaning against a row of lockers with his normal group of people around him.

"Listen I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow," Paris told her, closing her locker and walking down the hall.

"Bye Paris," Rory called after her, lifting her bag from the ground and taking one last glance at Tristin turned around and headed for the main exit. She walked across the quad, making her way to the bus stop she'd come quite familiar with. Sitting down and looking at her watch and realized she was running a little late today and that the bus would be there any minute.

Suddenly she felt the same tingle run up her spine and her heart started to beat extra fast. She tried to focus on anything except the obvious presence of Tristin. But that proved to be futile when he leaned in close to her ear, his hot breath make her shiver. "Need a ride?" he asked his voice smooth and sensual.

Rory desperate for something to occupy her hands with reached down and pulled her bag up next to her. "Actually the bus will be here any minute so I think I'm good," she told him, not looking at him and winding her fingers around the straps of her bag.

Tristin let out a low chuckle as he walked over and sat down on the bench. "You mean you aren't going to take advantage of me and my newly acquired Porsche?" he questioned dangling the shiny keys in front of Rory, who finally looked at him.

"I'm perfectly fine with taking the bus," she explained to him her stubborn side shining through. "Plus it'd be too far out of you're way," she rationalized some more.

Tristin let his gaze wonder down to her hands. They were clutching the material of her bag so tightly that they were turning pink and white in some places. He gently let his own hand trail over hers. His fingers tracing the outline of her delicate hand, feeling her soft skin with his, he could also feel her grip on the bag loosening. "It's not out of my way Mary. Not if I get to spend time with you," he told her, a charming smile on his face.

Rory who had been focusing all her attention on trying to ignore the way he was making her feel with his light caresses, turned her head to face him her eyes wide and questioning. She didn't know if he was being sincere or if it was just some line. But with one look into his blue eyes all she saw was genuine honesty and it made her heart flutter.

"Come on Mary, let me drive you home," he pleaded with her, his eyes softening even more, as he finally pried her hand away from the bag and entwined his fingers with hers.

Rory instantly knew that she was a sucker for his eyes. They were like deep blue of blue water, so serene and inviting. With one glance in them she felt like she would melt. But she knew she couldn't give in because there was something she just didn't want to face yet. "I just don't think it's a good idea," she tried to tell him.

Tristin narrowed his eyes, a slight frown spreading across his handsome face. He looked down and quickly pulled her bag over him and slid closer to her. "Why not?" he asked her.

Rory looked at him and then in front of her. "It's just if you drive me home…" she trailed off hoping he'd understand but knowing that he wouldn't. She felt him nudge her just a bit and so she looked back into his eyes. "You'd have to come into Stars Hollow."

Tristin nodded his head. "I don't see the problem Mary," he told her, tightening his grip on her hand in a reassuring manner.

Rory finally decided that she would have to tell him sooner or later so she turned completely to face him and sucked in a breath. "There's people in Stars Hollow that I'm not sure are ready to see you…with me," she told him.

Tristin held her gaze for a minute before it dawned on him and he looked away for a second. "Dean?" he questioned, the name sounding sour on his lips.

Rory cringed at how he said her ex-boyfriends name. "Him and my mom," she told him.

Tristin, keeping his hatred for Dean at bay, turned to look at her. "Your mom?"

Rory managed a small smile. "Let's just say she's not your biggest fan. I don't know if it's too soon to bring you home," Rory told him.

Tristin brought his free hand up and ran it through his blonde hair. "You know she's going to have to meet me someday," he told her.

Rory smiled innocently. "I know but I was planning this meeting to be sometime in the unforeseeable future."

Tristin couldn't help but let a smile grace his face. "You know Rory, the only way she's going to warm up to be is if she meets me and spends time with me," He told her smartly. Leaning in just a bit he breathed against her again. "I'm very good with moms," he told her.

Rory felt her cheeks redden but managed to roll her eyes and shove him away playfully. "My mom isn't the same. There are very important rules you have to understand before going near her," Rory told him seriously.

"Like what?"

Rory thought about it for a minute before she started animatedly talking. "Well you won't be even allowed to speak to her if you don't have at least two cups of coffee with you. She'll kill you if you ever dare call her 'Mrs. Gilmore'. You won't be able to use your charm and wit on her because she'll see right through you and politeness won't work on her either," Rory finished.

Tristin tried to take in all that at once and was pretty sure he would remember it all. "What do I call her?" he asked.

"Lorelai," she told him. "Oh and you will have to keep your hands where she can seem them at all times or else."

Tristin nodded then jumped up and since her hand was still wrapped up in his, pulling her up with him. "Great then let's go," he said, leaning over to grab her bag and putting it on his shoulder.

Rory dug her heels into the grass, her arm jerking forward with Tristin's pull. "Go where?" she asked him, stubbornly.

Tristin gently tugged at her hand some more and got her to move a little closer to him. "To my car so that I can drive you home," he told her, like it was no big deal.

"Tristin!" Rory whined her blue eyes wide. "Did you not just listen to what I said?" she asked as she was being pulled behind him.

"I did. You told me all about the rules for meeting your mom," he said not turning around until they reached his car. "I accepted them and so it's only logical that I now meet your mom."

Rory was trying to keep a straight face but she could feel the corners of her lips lift up in a smile. "You're crazy," she told him simply.

"So I've been told," he replied. He reached behind her and pulled on the door handle so it opened a bit. "Now get in Mary," he instructed.

Rory turned around and slid into the front seat, watching as he gently closed her door and jogged over to the driver's side. "One condition," she stated as he backed the car out.

"And that would be?" he asked her, pausing to send her a glance before his eyes went back to the parking lot in front of him.

Rory smiled and leaned forward over the seat divider looking up at him through hooded eyes. "I get to pick the music," she told him her innocent smile morphing into a smirk like his own.

Tristin looked down at her, caught off guard at her first by the way she was looking at him. Her blue eyes piercing through him and her smirk sending his mind reeling. He couldn't get over how lucky he was to have her here with him. "Knock youself out, Mary," he said, taking on hand off the wheel and placing it on his thigh, fighting the urge to grab her hand again, not knowing how she would react if he did.

Rory's blue eyes sparkled with victory and she quickly turned to the radio and surfed through the many channels until she finally stopped on one that was playing, 'Paperback Writer' by The Beatles. Satisfied with that song she leaned back against her chair absentmindedly humming along to the song.

Tristin just watched her through the corner of his eye an amused look on his face. He watched as she finally realized her was looking at her. His smile grew when her cheeks reddened and she looked over at him, her eyes questioning. "Didn't strike you as a Beatles fan," he told her, his tone curious.

Rory just smiled and turned back to watch the traffic. "There's a lot about me that will surprise you." Instantly her eyes widened and her hand shot to her mouth, she couldn't believe she'd just said that.

Tristin just laughed at her reaction and decided not to say anything about it knowing that she was embarrassed enough already. "So how to I get to your place exactly?" he asked her instead.

Rory who had been staring non-stop at her shoes shot her gaze to Tristin a relieved look plastered on her face. "Turn down the next exit…" as she finished telling him the directions to her town Tristin finally let his hand travel across to her own and clasped it in his hand, making her smile.

---

"You really weren't kidding about the giant rooster," Tristin said amazed as they drove into Stars Hollow.

Rory laughed. "No one ever believes us!" she exclaimed. Her smile grew more apprehensive though as Tristin drove farther into her town. She could see the many people turn their heads as his Porsche went by. She knew by the time they got to Luke's everyone in town would know. "We have to stop at Luke's first for the coffee," she told him pointing at the diner across the street her voice growing softer.

Tristin expertly parked the car in front of the diner and unbuckled his seatbelt, turning to face Rory who was looking over her shoulder. "Mary?" he asked, waiting to have her attention. Rory turned back to him and offered a tiny smile. "You do know this is a hardware store right?" he asked her even though he could see in through the windows. He hoped he might be able to calm her down just a bit.

In worked as Rory let an actual smile grace her face. "It is not," she told him pretending to be annoyed.

Tristin smiled, glad that he's made her more at ease, if at least for a little while. "Are you sure because that sign hanging right there does announce a hardware store," he stated matter-of-factly.

Rory looked over at the diner and past the sign. "Yes but on the window it reads 'diner'," she said it like she was speaking to a small child.

Tristin leaned forward like he was checking to make sure. "Well look at that it does say 'diner'," he said in mock awe, looking back over at Rory who now had that amazing twinkle back in her eye, all signs of anxiety replaced with laughter and a smile.

"Come on let's go," she said to him as she pushed open her door and stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of Luke's. Tristin was at her side in an instant and he grabbed her small hand in his, squeezing gently and pulling her along with him. They walked into the diner, the bell above the door ringing shrilly. Everyone inside turned to see who it was. They all saw Rory, complete with a deer in the headlights type of look, and at her side a guy they didn't recognize. The only good thing was that neither Miss. Patty nor Babette were in the diner and so Rory knew the news wouldn't travel as fast. Quickly she pulled Tristin with her to one of the more secluded tables in the diner, hoping to get away from all the stares and whispers.

Tristin who took a seat in front of Rory leaned forward. "Why is everyone staring at us?" he asked in a hushed voice, chancing a look at the patrons in the diner, who quickly looked away.

Rory sighed, her deep red blush finally starting to fade, she too leaned forward. "They're not staring at me, they're staring at you," she told him, copying his voice.

Tristin's cocky smirk was back in an instant. "Because I'm just so gorgeous, yes I know," he said in an over dramatic way.

Rory rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Actually I think it was the fact that we could barely fit inside the door with your ego being the size that it is," she explained, feeling herself relax as they slipped into their familiar banter.

Letting out a low chuckle Tristin was about to answer her when a shadow fell over the table. He looked up to see the figure of a very large man, flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap in place. His eyes were hard, and the snarl on his face was not reassuring.

"Luke hey," Rory greeted him, hoping not to have another incident like the one with Dean. "Ummm…I want you to meet Tristin," she said motioning between the two men.

Luke looked over at Rory. "Tristin?" he grunted.

Rory didn't know what he wanted exactly so she just gulped down some air and looked over at Tristin, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Well…uh…Tristin Dugrey, my new…boyfriend," she managed to get out, snapping her attention back to Luke, not wanting to see Tristin's reaction to that word. She could feel the blush rising to her cheeks; she just knew he was smirking like never before.

Luke was silent for a moment before he grunted and turned to Tristin. "Whadya want?" he asked rudely, still not to sure if he could trust this kid with Rory.

Tristin wasn't paying much attention though. He had been staring at Rory ever since she'd told Luke he was her boyfriend. The word leaving her lips and being in accordance with him was something heaven sent. He never thought he'd here that and the smirk on his face couldn't help but slip into a genuine smile as he felt warmth spread throughout him. But when Luke's gruff voice cut through his trance he broke his gaze and brought it over to the not-so-friendly looking guy. "Coffee?" he asked.

Rory smiled gratefully as Luke went to Tristin, she knew that had been his way of saying he accepted Tristin. She felt so relieved that some of the tension in her body left. "Four to go and three to stay," Rory clarified, earning a shocked look from Tristin.

"Isn't that a bit too much coffee, Mare?" Tristin asked after Luke walked back to the counter.

Rory's mouth went open and she scoffed. "Blasphemy! You can never have too much coffee!" she told him.

"You're turning into you're mother," Luke told her as he set three cups on the table. "You can get the others when you're ready to leave," he said before walking away to refill coffee's for other customers.

"He's very…" Tristin trailed off thinking of a word to best suit Luke.

"Grumpy?" Rory supplied, sipping at one of the coffees greedily.

Tristin nodded and also picked up a cup. "So do I have to be warned about any other people in this town?" he asked.

Rory laughed as she replied: "Just about all of them!" She sat up straighter in her chair and pointed out the window to Kirk who was walking down the street. "That's Kirk. He's the town eccentric," she told him smiling at the many memories she had with Kirk involved. "And make sure you understand that here it's no mean feat to achieve that kind of status."

Tristin was highly intrigued by her town and the people living in it. Just by being in it for 20 minutes at least he'd already come to love it, which surprised him as it was something so completely different from everything else in his life. But he could see how much Rory loved this town and vice versa, he knew that whatever was important to her he'd make the effort to learn about.

"How hard?" he asked.

Rory thought about that for a minute. "Let's just say few if any normal people live here in Stars Hollow."

"What about him?" Tristin asked pointing at a man across the street wearing red cardigan and yelling at a man on bike who crossed the street not using the traffic light.

Rory laughed good naturedly at the mention of Taylor. "Well that's Taylor Doose, he's the town's…" Rory paused as she thought about that before continuing, "Actually he's pretty much the town's everything official. He owns Doose's Market, he organizes just about every town event, is the head of a scout troop and the town's magistrate."

Tristin's eyebrows were lifted up in surprise. "Wow quite the regulator," he commented watching as Taylor finally left the poor guy alone.

"And I should probably warn you about Miss. Patty," she said, getting his attention again. "You see she owns this dance studio, Miss. Patty's. She's her own character here, having had an exciting life. Everything from dancing with Jose Fuentes to answering phones for Ricardo Montalbon," she told him.

Tristin was enraptured by her stories about the townspeople. The way she talked about them was amazing. He wanted to know everything about the people here and he knew all he had to do was ask and she'd be glad to share. "You said warn me about here," he clarified.

It was Rory's turn to smirk. "Yeah well, Miss. Patty has had a number of husbands and she pretty much worships any handsome guy. I'm just gonna tell you to watch out for her hands when you meet her!" she told him trying to hold in her laughter at his expression.

Tristin though quickly recovered and leaned forward a bit, his voice slipping into silky tones. "You think I'm handsome Mary?" he asked. Rory's laughter paled as her cheeks returned to their earlier red colour. She lowered her gaze, not refuting the statement. Tristin smirked, but knew that he wouldn't get an answer out of her so he decided to return to their previous conversation. "Any other crazy people live here?"

Relieved Rory looked up and was talking non-stop about the townspeople again. "There's my neighbour's Babette and Morey. They're both sweet but just a little crazy. Babette is really short but Morey is probably taller than 6 feet," she explained using her hands to represent the differences in height.

"How do they…"

Rory was quick to interrupt him. "Don't even think about finishing that sentence!" she warned, pointing an accusing finger at him. Tristin held up his hands surrendering as an answer. "You should see the house the live in," Rory told him, jumping back to their discussion. "Everything's perfect for Babette, everything is tiny; low doorways and windows, low everything."

Tristin guffawed at that. "I wouldn't want to be Morey living in that house," he exclaimed with pity in his eyes, but laughter in his voice.

Rory joined in, a giant smile on her face. "Babette told us he had a couple of concussions the first year they were married," she told him, finishing off her second cup of coffee.

Tristin looked down at his nearly finished cup and back at her two empty ones. "How'd you drink those so fast?" he asked looking at her weirdly.

Rory looked down at the cups and shrugged. "It's coffee," she told him like it must explain everything.

"Oh yah, of course, why didn't I think of that?" he asked her sarcastically.

Rory on the other hand decided not to pick up on the way he said it. "I don't know," she said cutely.

Tristin realized then that he hadn't stopped smiling since he'd walked up to her at the bus stop. He'd never smiled so much before and he knew it had to be the company. She was like this angel that brought life and happiness to him. As he looked at her he understood that she didn't know what she meant to him, how much he cared about her…loved her. But he made a promise to himself that he would make her see all those things, he would kill her doubts, and he'd show her how he could fit into her world in Stars Hollow. He wouldn't disappoint her, he wouldn't hurt her…he didn't think it was physically possible.

---

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter you guy's are awesome and I bow down before you with cookies and cakes!  
_

_Just a hint: the next chap will involve Tristin meeting Lane and Lorelai.  
_

_-Ella_


	7. The Wrath of Lorelai Gilmore

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or One Tree Hill (Two quotes from that TV show in here...)**  
**

**He'd Be a Fool Not To**

Rory finally grew impatient; Tristin was a new concept to her and wasn't accustomed to the Gilmore way. "Tris…" she began. "I know you're new and all, but here we don't sip the caffeine."

"You inhale it," he finished, in a playful manner.

"10 minutes tops."

"For two cups?"

"Coffee is coffee my friend," Rory said, rising to her feet, to make her way towards the four cups of coffee sitting on the counter. "To go?" she asked Luke, who nodded his head.

With barely half of his coffee's done, Tristin took one desperate sip before following Rory. In this town, he was scared of being more than 2 feet away from her.

As the two of them turned to walk out, Rory shouted her thanks to Luke and ended up trudging right into a frantic Lane.

"I'm late!" she exclaimed, naturally Rory assumed for her shift and disregarded any other possible meanings. Lane's eyes then shifted from Rory to Tristin, who was standing about a foot behind her. "Who brought Brad Pitt?"

Rory blushed at her words. She knew that, without having to turn around, Tristin was wearing his famous trademark smirk. "Actually, Lane this is Tristin," she told her and then turned to face Tristin. "Tris, this is my best friend Lane."

Tristin reached forward and grabbed Lane's hand, bringing it to his mouth and brushing a kiss across it. "Nice to meet you, Lane."

The Korean girl was at a loss for words as she gazed up at Tristin, a goofy smile on her face. "Hi," she finally said, still in some kind of trance.

"Lane!" Luke's gruff voice jolted Lane awake and she hurried past Rory and Tristin, turning around to face them. She looked at Rory. "Call me later," she advised before waving and running into the diner.

"So that's your best friend?" Tristin asked as the two started walking to his car.

"Yeah, that's Lane," she told him, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. She had known that her mom wasn't going to like Tristin that much, but she'd never thought of what she'd do if Lane and Tristin didn't get along.

"I like her," he said, opening the passenger door for her and then running around to the driver's side.

"You don't even know her," Rory told him, glad that he had once again settled her nerves.

"But that's not my fault, is it Mary?" he asked.

Rory just smiled at him before she looked up at the road. "Turn down here," she told him, directing him to her house.

"You're kidding right? That was like a two second drive!" he exclaimed stopping the car.

Rory was already out the door and around the front hood. "Well we don't have a lot of town here," she told him. She looked at the house noticing that it was quiet. "I guess my mom's not home yet. The jeeps not here either so we can put off the…" Rory suddenly trailed off her blue eyes widening.

"What's wrong Mare?" Tristin asked, noticing her expression. "Isn't it good that your mom's not here?"

Rory shook her head, bringing her hands to her forehead as she walked back to the car, falling back against the hood. "No, the jeep…I…"

Tristin frowned, not having understood practically anything of what she just said. "Rory you're not making any sense," he told her gently.

Rory looked up at him, her blue eyes peeking at him from behind her hands. "My mom didn't drive the jeep today…I did," she said.

"What?"

"I drove the jeep! To school!" she pushed off the car and started to pace, before whipping around to face him. "That means it's still in the parking lot!"

"But when I came up to you, you were waiting to get on the bus?" he said, confusion marring his face.

"That's because I forgot that I'd driven the jeep today!" she explained.

"Okay so it's just an honest mistake, Rory," he tried to placate her.

"My mom won't see it that way, trust me," she told him.

"Listen Rory, it will be okay," he said, calming her down a bit.

Rory stopped her pacing and turned to face Tristin. "You called me Rory," she said, making him smile.

Tristin walked towards her. "I know," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder, the weight was comforting to Rory and it helped compose her even more. "Here, I'll drive you back and you can pick up the jeep…you're mom won't know."

Rory nodded, placing her own hand on top of his. "You're really good at that."

"Good at what?"

"Calming people down when they're freaking out…especially me."

"Well I must be a natural because I haven't had much practice," he laughed.

"Well I freak out a lot so you'll be a pro in no time," she told him, a small smile playing on her face.

Tristin took her hand in his and he led her over to the side of the car. He let Rory walk a bit faster then him so he could drop behind her. And when he did he whispered into her ear, making her shiver. "Is that a good thing?"

Rory closed her eyes against the effect of having him at her ear. She could feel the heat emanating off his body and his voice sent delicious tingles down her spine. "Maybe," she finally answered. Rory then stopped just as they reached the passenger door and she leaned her back against it, looking up at him. "Thanks Tristin," she started, "you've done more then enough for me today." A slight blush was caressing her cheeks but she kept eye contact with him.

"Don't worry about it Mary," he said.

Rory was about to turn around when the sound of a car turning into the driveway drifted into her ears. Her whole body visibly tensed when she recognized it as Sookie's car, and the person sitting in the passenger seat as her mom. The car stopped just a few yards from Tristin's car but Lorelai stayed inside it for a minute talking to Sookie before she climbed out.

When Lorelai had been ready to leave the Independence Inn earlier, she'd set out to find Sookie to see if she'd be able to give her a ride home. Sookie had of course said yes. The one thing Lorelai had expected to find was her daughter and Tristin standing on the driveway. She knew she'd told Rory that she would try and accept Tristin, but she didn't think she'd have to deal with him right away. She didn't think Rory would have brought him here this early, especially not after their very recent fight. She turned to Sookie and saw the apprehensive look in her friend's eyes. She also told her that she'd give him a chance so she plastered a very fake smile of her face and thanked Sookie for the ride and said that she'd see her tomorrow. After Sookie reciprocated the goodbye, Lorelai opened the passenger and stepped out of the car. She walked closer to where the two teens were standing, both looking very nervous. She didn't know how exactly to handle this situation, she just hoped that her smile would fool Rory into thinking she was okay with this, and she hoped her face didn't crack from the effort of keeping it in place.

Rory could tell instantly that her mom wasn't happy about Tristin being there. She'd known that she wouldn't be, but she did feel a little better because at least her mom was trying. She sent her mom a small smile, hoping that it might help the situation. "Hey mom," she said, not letting any form of relief that her mom hadn't blown up her into her voice, because she knew that it could all end badly still.

Lorelai silently counted to ten and walked over to them. "Hey Rory," she said, trying to sound somewhat normal. She looked over at Tristin, who was standing a little behind Rory, he looked very tense to her and she took a tiny bit of pride in that.

"Umm…mom this is Tristin," Rory started seeing her mom just stare at him. She then turned around to look at Tristin. "Tristin this is my mom."

With years of perfect breeding behind him, Tristin stuck out his hand for her to shake. He almost slipped up by calling her Mrs. Gilmore but luckily caught himself before the name could leave his lips. "Hello Lorelai."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow at that. "Hi Tristin," she said and turned to her daughter. "I see you taught him well."

"She also told me to give you this," Tristin said, handing her the coffee that he'd been carrying.

Lorelai had to give him brownie points for the coffee, she knew that. "Thanks," she said awkwardly.

The three of them stood there, not one of them knowing what to do. That was until Lorelai finally looked at the car they were all standing beside. She'd never understood why but she'd always had the obsession with very expensive cars, and she could tell this was one. She walked closer to it and let her hand run over the metallic blue paint, as her eyes took in the rest of the open top Porsche. "Pretty car," she whispered.

Rory watched as her mom practically drooled over the car. She couldn't help but let a laugh pass from her lips. "Mom it's just a car," she said.

Lorelai turned to her, a sheepish smile gracing her face. She backed away from the car and walked passed the two turning back around when she was a couple feet behind them. She was just about to do the one thing that would make Rory believe that she was really trying to like Tristin when something caught her eye. The driveway was empty. Well except for the Porsche… "Rory where's the jeep?"

Rory's blue eyes widened at her mom's question. She felt the ball that had been growing inside her stomach tighten and her mouth go dry. She'd never been able to lie to her mom and so she knew she'd have to say the truth but she didn't think she could.

"Where is it?" Lorelai repeated her question when Rory didn't answer her.

Tristin saw that Rory was panicking and so he did what he thought might help her. He was already behind her a bit and so he pressed his right hand against the small of her back, slowly moving it up and down in a soothing way.

Rory jumped slightly at the feel of his hand on her back but then she relaxed into his touch. The comforting sensation his caress was giving her was enough to tell her mom the truth. It was like she was drawing strength from him. "The jeeps at school mom," she got it out, even though it was almost inaudible.

But to Lorelai it was like she'd screamed it. She didn't know how to react at first. But then when she looked up she remembered the Porsche. At first it had just been sitting there all innocent and pretty but now Lorelai hated it. It was the reason why her jeep was still at Rory's school…Lorelai focussed her eyes on Tristin. 'No he's the reason why,' she concluded. That thought made anger spread through her veins. She looked down at Rory and couldn't hold in her temper anymore. "It's at Chilton still? It shouldn't be at Chilton, it should be here!"

"Mom…I'm sorry," Rory said, her eyes drowning in tears.

"Rory you can't do this!" Lorelai exclaimed, cutting up the promise she'd made to Rory and burning the little pieces it fell into. "I gave you the jeep to drive to school today. I trusted you to bring it back!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," Rory exclaimed, not letting her tears fall. She'd cried too much during the weekend and she didn't want to start again.

"Oh I know you weren't thinking, because if you were you would have never done something so stupid!" Lorelai set the coffees she'd had in her hand, down on the ground as she folded her arms across her stomach.

Rory didn't stop the anger she felt at her mom's accusations, from entering her voice. She no longer felt the need to cry anymore as she felt determination settle deep inside her. "Something stupid?" she asked, repeating her mom's words. "I forgot I drove the jeep today, I'm not used to having it."

"That doesn't matter Rory. You would have never forgotten about it a couple months ago!" her hands flew from her stomach and into the air on their own accord.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rory asked, even though she already knew what it meant. She just wanted to hear her mom say it.

Lorelai was silent for a moment before she continued her voice was strict and knowing. "I think you know exactly what I'm saying. And I think if you'd given this any sort of thought you'd agree with!"

"Oh not this again, I thought we already had this fight?" Rory asked, she couldn't believe that she and her mom were fighting about this for the second time in less then a week.

"We did, I'm just here for round two. Hey, do you want me to go down to the market and pick up some silly string, you know in case it gets real ugly?" she asked sarcastically.

Rory decided to ignore her comment and focussed on her earlier question. "Mom I already told you that I have given this a lot of thought. You know me, I don't just jump into things without thinking them over!"

Lorelai looked down at her shoes and then back up at Rory, her eyes held this sad flare to them. "Do I know you anymore Rory?" she asked, her voice sombre. "Because you don't look like the same girl to me."

Rory was speechless. She couldn't believe what her mom was saying. "What?" she asked after a minute or two of silence.

"You're not the same girl Rory." Was all Lorelai said, she didn't elaborate, like she thought Rory should understand exactly what she was talking about.

Rory nodded her head a little, a wry smile creeping onto her face. She couldn't explain, not even to herself, but she felt like this cold wind had just blown over her. She could feel it all the way inside of her and it made her even angrier. "I grew up mom," she told her, her voice taking a bitter edge.

"You're still a kid though Rory. You're not old enough to grow up yet!" Lorelai yelled. "You're just a kid. No matter how responsible or mature you act sometimes you're still a kid."

"I'm more of an adult then you are half the time!" Rory shouted back at her.

"So you think you're grown up? Does this seem grown up to you? Yelling at me?" she asked.

"Oh my God mom, that's like the pot calling the kettle black!" Rory burst out.

"This isn't about me Rory it's about you! It's about how you changed in the past couple of days! Days? Do you hear that Rory?" Lorelai asked, but it was obviously a rhetorical question because she kept on going without waiting for an answer. "You used to be amazing, nice and sweet, 'ready to please everyone', you were this totally unique…Rory."

"I haven't changed who I am mom. I'm still the same person. So maybe it's not me who has the problem maybe it's you," she told her, crossing her arms over the chest.

"No, you just don't see that you've changed. Can't you here yourself though? You never used to talk to me, let alone anyone else, like this," Lorelai said, disappoint tingeing her voice.

"Okay, fine! I have changed," Rory acquiesced. "But did you ever stop to think that maybe I wanted to? That maybe this is for the good? I did this for myself, and I have to say I'm proud of it, because I never felt I had this kind of strength and courage before. I just found it and I'm not giving it up because you don't like it, so you're just going to have to deal with it!" she yelled, her voice growing in volume.

"Deal with it?" Lorelai asked, like it was some impossible task. "I can't deal with it Rory!"

Rory didn't pay any attention to that outburst though. "Well then, why don't you ask yourself the same question then mom? Can't you hear yourself?" she asked, stretching her arms out, gesturing around her. "Can't you remember what you promised me you'd do?"

"I was wrong when I promised I could do that," she admitted.

"So then you shouldn't have told me you could in the first place! Don't you understand how happy I was when you said you'd try? And now you've just stomped all over that promise like it was nothing! Well guess what mom, it meant a lot to me!"

"I know it meant a lot to you and I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry?" Rory interrupted, her tone unbelieving. "You know you should buy apologies in bulk if you're going to handing them out this often!"

"I know that I told you I would give this a chance but Rory you've got to understand that this isn't going to be good for you! He isn't good for you!"

Tristin was still standing behind Rory, his hand still pressed against her back, but he knew he'd been forgotten by both Gilmore's. He hadn't been sure what this fight was about at first but now he was certain. It was about him. He lowered his eyes to the ground, his jaw ticking. He felt guilt flood through him. He was the reason why Rory was fighting with her mom. He could tell she hated doing it to. Even though she was maintaining her position and her anger, he could tell that her mom's words were hurting her a lot. With his hand against her back, he felt her tense up every time her mom said something; he'd seen her shoulders tremble more than once. He didn't want to leave Rory alone but he knew that he probably shouldn't be here, he might even be making it worse. And so with that thought he carefully removed his hand from Rory's back and went to turn around.

"Excuse me? Where do you think you're going?" Lorelai asked. Her hard gaze focussed on him instead of Rory for a moment.

Tristin turned back around, his whole body going tense. "I just thought…that maybe…I should leave you two alone."

"No! I think you should stay," Lorelai replied, taking a step forward. "I mean, I know that this is all about you, Rory's know it and I'm pretty sure you've caught on by now."

"Mom!" Rory hissed. She quickly took a step to her left, standing between her mom and Tristin. "That is not fair mom! Tristin doesn't deserve to have you scream at him when he only came here in the first place to meet you!" she yelled at her before turning around to face Tristin. "I'm sorry," she mouthed the words to him.

"It's okay," he mouthed back, sending a smile her way. "I think I should go," he whispered, low enough for only her to here.

Rory nodded. Part of her didn't want him to leave. Even though she'd mostly forgotten that he was there, he was presenting her with a sense of safety during her fight. Like she could do anything as long as he would be there, waiting to catch her if she fell. But then again the other part of her was more then embarrassed that he'd been there for her whole fight, plus, having him undergo the wrath of Lorelai Gilmore the Second. It still hurt to see him walk away though. She watched as he climbed into his car and backed out of the driveway, sending a wave in her direction before he was out of sight.

Lorelai had stood, silently fuming, throughout their exchange. She hadn't heard a word of what they said, only because she'd blocked it all out. She did notice however, that when her daughter turned around the small smile on her face and twinkle in her eye vanished and were replaced by anger.

"You had no right to yell at him like that mom!" Rory continued, glad that she hadn't lost her nerve when Tristin left.

"Like hell I had no right! That boy is the reason were standing here screaming at each other Rory!"

"No the reason for that is you! Because you can't accept change!"

"Not all change is good, and this sure doesn't look like a good one to me!" she told Rory. "Why can't you see that? We never used to fight Rory, never. But now we've fought twice in the span of a week!" When Rory didn't say anything Lorelai persisted. "This guy is ruining everything Rory! He's not the guy for you. He isn't…"

"He isn't Dean?" Rory asked, finishing her mom's sentence. "He isn't safe?"

"That's part of it," Lorelai said. Rory was about to open her mouth to reply but Lorelai beat her to it. "Listen Rory I'm not saying that I want you to be with Dean. I'm sure there's someone out there that will be able to make you happy."

"I am happy mom!" Rory yelled, sounding anything but happy.

"Really, cause it doesn't seem like it to me."

"Well do you see Tristin around here mom? Because I sure don't! He's what makes me happy!"

"He was here just a couple minutes ago, and we didn't seem any different then," Lorelai said stubbornly.

"Maybe not but he makes me happy mom. I wouldn't put up with all this, I wouldn't risk all of this if he didn't. I want you to be okay with this mom, but I have to say that if you aren't…" she trailed off preparing herself to say this, "I'm not going to stop seeing him."

Lorelai had thought that was coming, she'd known she wouldn't get Rory to break off this thing with Tristin quickly because her daughter cared about him and was increasingly stubborn. But it still hurt to hear that she would still date him even if Lorelai wasn't okay with it. Lorelai didn't say anything, she just stared at Rory before she brushed past her and started walking down the driveway.

"Where are you going?" Rory screamed after her.

"I'm going to get my car!" she yelled over her shoulder. She whipped around, pausing in her strides and pointing an accusing finger at Rory. "And you're going inside Rory! You're grounded!" she yelled, the words feeling foreign on her lips.

"What?" Rory asked, not quite believing that. Lorelai had never grounded her before, not that she could remember.

"Bread and water!" she exclaimed. "Hardcore grounded!" And with that she turned around and stalked down the driveway, silent tears streaming down her cheeks.

---

Rory didn't move she just stood there, in the middle of the driveway, tears spilling from her bloodshot eyes. Her body felt cold, but she did nothing to warm herself. She didn't think she could move, not without falling. Her legs seemed weak, like jelly almost. She was surprised that she hadn't collapsed yet. She finally moved when a distant rumble sounded over her. She looked up, noticing for the first time the storm clouds gathering above, matching her mood perfectly. Rory knew her mom wouldn't be coming home anytime soon. And so with much effort she walked over to her front door and opened it. The warmth inside the house didn't affect her at all as she walked to the kitchen. She felt like an automaton as she wrote out a note to her mom, just in case she got home before her.

She walked by her room and caught her reflection in the mirror. She looked miserable. Her cheeks tear stained, her eyes sad and her hair a mess. She then remembered that she'd left her backpack in Tristin's car. Her gaze floated over to the cordless phone that was sitting on the counter but she decided she'd call him later; right now she just needed to get out and clear her mind.

Rory slammed the door, pausing on the porch just long enough to sigh, as she remembered the fight. The only voice she could hear at first was her mom's. When she'd first gotten here she'd been so happy. Everyone seemed to accept Tristin, even Luke. But she should have known that her mom would be against it. She'd seen it all in her eyes when she gotten out of the car.

Raising her head defiantly, she started down the steps and down the driveway. It wasn't even close to night yet, but the storm clouds hanging above had turned it dark and cold as she walked down the sidewalk that led into town. Above her the small peak of sun left was rapidly being blotted out by heavy clouds. The street wasn't busy like it usually was but Rory really wanted to be alone right now. And so she crossed over and turned down the path that led to the bridge. This place was quiet and she welcomed it – solitude and time, to think without her mom pushing her over the edge.

Staring blankly ahead, she let her feet lead her to the wooden planks. There was a pale flash in the sky and thunder rumbled in the distance again, louder this time, closer this time. But her eye's seemed to linger on where she'd seen the lightening. Had her mom been right? Had she really changed everything, including herself, in some awful way? Her brows knitted into a frown as she thought about it, going over everything her mom had said to her.

Lorelai really had brought up everything. No fault of hers was left unchecked, her personal change, her attitude, her boyfriend, and through it all she'd kept strong, pretending she was like stone, pretending it didn't hurt her even when it cut her to the bone.

Coming out of her reverie, Rory stared out at the water, no longer calm like it usually was. She hated fighting with her mom; she hated it more then anything. But right now, she hated that her mom was making her rethink herself. She didn't want there to be truth in what her mom said. As she stood still letting her eyes wander blankly over the water, a large drop of rain hit her and it was soon followed by another and another until she moved her eyes to the bridge, watching as the wood turned darker and darker as the rain seemed into it. Thunder echoed overhead and she raised her eyes to the outline of trees, watching the lightening turn them into silhouettes as it struck the ground. Her Chilton uniform started to cling to her skin as it soaked through and the air turned colder.

The rain grew harder, but Rory didn't turn away. She lowered herself down onto the bridge and let her mind drift elsewhere. What right did her mom have to tell her when she was happy? She'd only wanted her mom to try and accept him; she didn't think that was too much to ask. She'd been happy before and she'd thought her mom would see that and let it go.

Thinking over her own words, she felt the growing wind blow through her, chilling her to the bone. She felt empty almost and wrapped her arms around her chest and looked around the bridge, the rain dulling her senses until she couldn't make out anything. Looking back to her left, she frowned as something moved and taking a deep breath she got up and moved in that direction.

Clearing the line of trees, she looked up and ran her hands over her hair, closing her eyes and welcoming the cleansing feeling of the cold water washing over her face. She squinted through the rain, as she recognized the thing that had moved to be a person.

"Rory!"

The voice drifted into her ears, muffled and beaten at by the rain, but still familiar. She felt a small spark, her insides heating slightly as the person came closer. He stopped by her side and knelt down beside her. Rory didn't waste anymore time and threw herself in his arms.

As Tristin let his arms snake around her waist, Rory let her tears spill over onto his shoulder. She couldn't fool him like she could her mother. She couldn't pretend she was strong and that she wasn't hurting. She felt his wet hand touching hers and she wrapped her fingers tightly around his, the connection sending sparks through her. Tristin pulled back a tiny bit to look down at their hands and then up into her eyes, and she smiled weakly at him as she tried to stifle her tears. Tristin pushed her wet hair behind her ear with his free hand then cupped her cheek. Leaning into it, Rory swallowed hard as her eyes slipped closed.

Opening them again, she freed her hand and trailed it up his arm. Tristin smiled at her and she felt it warm her up inside, heating her body as his eyes showed her concern and love. Running her fingers around the back of his head, she pulled him close. He smiled and brought his lips to hers, kissing her softly as he wrapped her up in his arms.

Kissing him, Rory gave into her emotions, heat coursed through her and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Tristin lifted her gently off the bridge and into a standing position, causing the rain to run down her back and making her shiver. He shrugged of his coat and slipped her arms into it and ran his fingers through her hair as he once again leaned down.

Rory was oblivious to the rain as they stood together, wrapped up in each other's embrace and losing themselves in a kiss. She'd almost fallen before, but Tristin had caught her.

And it was then that she realized he would always be there to catch her.

_ ---  
Thanks for all the reviews and to everyone who read the last chapter. I'll probably update once more before the weeks over but after that I'm going on vacation for two weeks. _

_Hugs and Kisses,  
-Ella_


	8. Get Over It

**He'd Be A Fool Not To…**

It was late, the little red numbers on her clock had spelt out and passed three am already, but Lorelai couldn't sleep. She moved out of her bed, and padded silently across the room to the window and pulled it open, allowing a cool night breeze to creep in. The storm had passed and the rain had stopped but she could still feel it in the air.

Wrapping her arms tight around herself she watched the desolate town below her, everything seemed so peaceful and calm in the early hours of the morning. The hours she should be spending curled up in her blankets and sleeping soundly. But not tonight because the hours now belonged to her thoughts and it made her feel distant.

Sighing as she turned away from her window, Lorelai slipped languidly back into bed. She hated not being able to find the relief of sleep. Leaning over to her bedside table she flicked on her stereo and skipped a few tracks. Rory had called earlier and asked if she could stay at Lane's for the night, and Lorelai had said yes even though Rory was grounded. The both of them just needed a slight breather right now.

Sitting up in bed she curled her knees and hugged them to her chest, staring transfixed at a small picture of her and Rory, huge smiles on their faces and laughing uncontrollably. Something inside her knew that the distance between her and Rory was her fault but the anger she felt towards _him _was still fresh in her mind.

She remembered when she'd gotten off the bus at Chilton. She'd stood there for over an hour, frozen to the same spot she had been in when reality hit her, and she realized that she might have lost her daughter for good. She'd argued with herself out loud that that was stupid and a lie; Rory would never turn her back on her mother especially not for a guy. But some small part of her had fought back. Rory did need him, even if Lorelai didn't like him; she knew he would be there for Rory. But Lorelai wanted to be that constant person in Rory's life…

_I'm here, sitting in a bed  
In a place where I don't feel at home_

Lorelai looked around her room; it looked blue and icy cold in the moonlight sifting in through her window. Furniture, clothes and knick knacks were scattered all over the room, some hers and some Rory's. A reminder that she had blown up everything they had had, all on a whim of anger. She questioned herself, 'What do you know about their relationship?' He was from high society but she'd seen the way he'd looked at Rory the night of the play.

Lorelai looked around her room for the longest time, dredging up old memories and wandering about in a dream. Absentmindedly she'd gotten out of bed and headed downstairs. She walked silently around the house, the soft notes of Lene Marlin drifting down the stairs.

_Where are you, I sure wonder why  
You haven't called me, you promised you would  
The phone must be broken it has to be broken  
I'm sure there's a reason, say there's a reason _

Lorelai walked over to the fireplace in the living room, bringing her hand up and trailing it softly over the pictures. There was a small photo tapped to the side of a frame of her and Rory. She remembered it as the one Sookie had taken at Christmas time. Lorelai smiled at the faint recognition of that Christmas and the silly presents her and Rory had exchanged.

Closing her eyes Lorelai walked over to the couch and sat down, pulling a blanket up over her body. The window in the living was also open to the night, and the breeze caught her soft beige curtains and made them dance. Lorelai looked down at the photo in her hand, staring at it she felt so alone and empty at the sight of happier times. She realized that she couldn't just take for granted that Rory and she would always have that mother-daughter-best-friend relationship until the end and beyond. Lorelai sighed and watched the movements of the curtains as the music washed over her.

_I fight against the hours, I cannot go to sleep  
I know that if I lay down now,  
Inside I know I'll weep  
Guess I'm holding on to treasures  
To things that just aren't there  
To people that I used to know,  
To words I wish to hear._

She stood up slowly and took the picture with her back up to her bedroom, holding it to her chest, flush against her like it was her lifeline. She felt a rather large crack in her defences as she wished her and Rory could get back to those times. Laying herself down on her bed she lay the picture down next to her.

_I'm here, thinking only of you  
Wish to know, if I need to go_

Looking at her pillow she replayed the last time she'd seen Rory smile at her, a true smile. She remembered Rory's eyes when she'd turned back around after Tristin had left. They'd been shining blue like summer skies, and as Lorelai thought about that she wanted nothing more then to give up her fight and let this Tristin kid in.

_And I try, I swear to you that I try  
But you haven't called me, you promised you would_

_The phone must be broken, it has to be broken  
I'm sure there's a reason, say there's a reason_

Lorelai knew that Rory would be here that night, asleep in her own room, if she hadn't pushed her away, not yelled at her and broken her promise. She didn't like the feeling of knowing that she was alone in the house. She wasn't the type of person who ever really wanted alone time. She always felt lost or bored, but right now she only had herself to blame.

Letting her eyes fall closed again, Lorelai curled up into a ball. She wanted to be able to get up in the morning and walk down to Luke's for breakfast with Rory. She wanted to be able to talk to her and joke around and just have everything return to normal with them.

And she knew for that to happen she would have to get over her stubbornness, get over her pride and finally get over her hatred towards anyone from her parents world.

_I fight against the hours, I cannot go to sleep  
I know that if I lay down now,  
Inside I know I'll weep  
Guess I'm holding on to treasures  
To things that just aren't there  
To people that I used to know,  
To words I wish to hear. _

As the music faded Lorelai finally drifted off to sleep, one hand holding her blankets up to her chin and the other clasping the picture tightly. Mouth opening in a sigh, she let slip a single tear.

---

When Rory woke up the next morning, her eyes stung, her face hurt and her mouth felt like someone had rubbed it with sand paper. She brought her hand to her eyes and rubbed at them, but it only made them hurt more. She slowly pushed herself up, feeling disorientated at first when she hit a wall with her elbow. Rory reached out to steady herself and finally remembered where she was.

She remembered the night before, the fight with her mom, Tristin comforting her on the bridge, him driving her to Lane's house. She couldn't fight the smile that itched at her lips, when she recalled Tristin's words when he'd dropped her off.

_Flashback_

_Rory was sitting silently in the passenger seat of Tristin's car, her head pressed against the window and letting the coolness seep into her skin. Her small form was swimming in Tristin's coat but she didn't even notice. All she cared for was the comfort and peace she found while wearing it, the scent of him surrounding her and the warmth invading her system. _

_She felt the car stop, and looked up from the ground and let her eyes travel up to Kim's Antiques, the place she'd told Tristin to drop her off at. She made no move to get out of the car, just stared at the house. She could feel Tristin's blue eyes on her, his gaze leaving a path of fire wherever it landed. She could sense that he was concerned, worried about her, but she didn't know what to say to make him feel better. And so she didn't say anything. _

_Soon enough she heard Tristin unbuckle himself and open the car door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him come around the hood of the car and then his form stopped in front of her. She understood what he was waiting for and so she slowly backed away from the door and let him open it. She pulled his coat tighter around herself as the wind from outside attacked her. _

_She looked up at him, with watery eyes, hair plastered onto her face in a wet mess. Tristin thought she looked absolutely beautiful, but the tears in her eyes made her look different. They made her look small, weak and scared. He never wanted to see her like this, and his heart ached thinking about the pain she must be carrying around with her. He reached down into the car and held out his hand for her, waiting until she placed her slender one in his. _

_He pulled her out of the car, glad that the rain had stopped so she wouldn't get soaked again. He looked at her with a tender look and then leaned back down into the car and pulled out her backpack and slid it over his shoulder. After he closed the car door he placed his hand at the small of her back and walked her up to the front door. _

"_Are you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked, making her pause in her action of knocking on the door. She looked up at him, and his eyes narrowed into a softer look. She felt her heart melt at the look and before she could think she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested the side of her face against his chest._

_Tristin was surprised by her abrupt action but his arms immediately curved around her waist, holding her to him and never wanting to let go. He could feel the dampness of her hair seep into his shirt but he didn't care about it at all. "Rory?" he whispered, not wanting to scare her. _

_Rory slowly pulled back, but kept herself in his embrace. "I'll be fine," she told him but her voice sounded like it was going to break. _

"_You know I don't believe that," he told her, a small smile playing on his lips. _

"_I know."_

_Tristin sighed out and pulled her back to him, resting his head on hers. "I want you to know Rory that I'll always be there for you. No matter what happens, I need you to know hat you can count on me," he told her gently, his warm breath tickling her ear._

_Rory smiled at his words, and leaned back so she could look into his eyes. "I think I'm starting to realize that," she said, watching as his smile came back and then she leaned up to kiss him lightly on the lips. "I'm sorry about my mom," she said when she pulled back. _

_Tristin shook his head and brought a finger up to her lips. "Don't worry about it." He let her backpack slip off his shoulder and down to the porch. He looked over at the front door and then back at Rory. "You'll be okay here?" he asked, not wanting to leave her alone at a time like this. _

"_Yeah, I can't go home," she told him, her eyes welling with tears when she said the words home. Right now the crap shack felt anything but homey. "Thank you," Rory whispered, not knowing how to express in words how much Tristin had come to mean to her. _

"_Your welcome Mary," he sighed, the nickname making her lips twitch into a smile. Rory liked knowing that even when everything seemed to be going wrong, some things still never changed. _

_End Flashback _

Rory looked down at the pyjamas she'd borrowed from Lane, fingering the soft cotton between her fingers. Rory felt so grateful to have a friend like her. Someone who would stay up into the late hours of the night just to hear Rory talk about what had happened, someone who would let her crash inside her closet so that she wouldn't have to go home just yet. But Rory knew that she would have to go home now, she couldn't hide in Lane's closet forever.

Slowly Rory pushed the blankets away from her and stood up. She paused with hr ear pressed to the door just to make sure that Mama Kim wasn't in Lane's room. When she didn't hear anything she opened the door and stepped out into the completely different room. Lane was still in bed and so Rory padded over to her desk quietly. She didn't want to wake Lane up so she scribbled a note thanking her and telling she'd call later that night. Rory placed the note on Lane's extra pillow before she grabbed her shoes and uniform and tiptoed out of the Kim house.

Rory walked down the street still in Lane's pyjamas, getting some odd looks from a lot of people. She also noticed they were looking at her with a sad look and she wondered why…until she remembered that she lived next to Babette, the second biggest gossip queen in Stars Hollow. Rory groaned smacking her hand against her head, everyone in town probably knew about their fight already.

Rory wondered down the street, the closer she got to her house, the more her stomach knotted. She didn't know what to expect, when she'd talked to her mom on the phone she'd been so formal. She knew by far that this was there biggest fight ever but right now she just wanted it to be over. And as she came up to the house she realized that maybe her mom wanted it to be over to.

---

Lorelai had awoken early that morning, around five-thirty. She hadn't even tried to fall back asleep; she just rolled out of bed and padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. She on instinct made herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Her head was pounding. She didn't know if it was from all the heavy thoughts she'd entertained last night or because of the two hours of sleep she'd gotten. But no matter what reason, she felt awful and she knew she would feel awful until she made things right with Rory.

Could she really stay this mad at Rory because of a guy? Was she even mad at Rory? Or was this all directed at the fact Rory was falling for someone from her parent's world? Lorelai had always hated that world, those people. She'd run from it and never looked back in hesitation. At many different times throughout the last year or so she'd had to be reminded that Rory might like that world. It shook her to the core every time but she just didn't want to accept that Rory wasn't running with her. But she knew right now that deep down inside of her she wanted to be able to get over it, she'd just never had the incentive. Until now…

Lorelai jumped up from the table, knocking her chair backwards onto the kitchen floor in her haste. She didn't know what had just happened but she knew that something had. Something inside of her clicked on at that moment. Maybe it was her stubbornness, her pride? No, it was something else. She could scarcely remember it but it was there: a memory of her cradled in the arms of a younger Christopher, sitting on the bench on his front porch. It was that memory, the emotions she'd seen in his eyes: love, devotion, concern, worry, that had her mind running a mile a minute. Like an onslaught, she remembered different things from when she was growing up in Hartford, things she'd blocked out because they were the things keeping her there, the only happy times she'd had.

And suddenly in her mind and in her heart, being compared to Christopher wasn't all that bad because he'd been a good guy and he'd loved her.

---

Rory folded her arms in front of her as she stepped onto the driveway. Lorelai was sitting on the steps leading up to the porch, a mug of coffee in her hand and another one beside her. She walked even further, her footsteps becoming louder and announcing her approach to Lorelai. The older Gilmore looked up from her coffee and when she saw Rory coming up the drive she set her mug down beside her and walked over to meet Rory halfway.

"I'm sorry," she gushed, not even waiting for a reply before engulfing her daughter in her arms.

Rory was completely stunned by her mother's turn around but she managed to bring her arms around her, the still damp uniform pressed between them. The two girls hugged, standing on their front lawn in their pyjama's for five minutes straight before Rory pulled back a bit. She looked up at Lorelai and she saw the smile on her face.

"I'm sorry," Lorelai repeated. "I'm sorry for breaking my promise, I'm sorry for yelling at you…I'm just really sorry."

Rory was speechless for a minute before she broke out of it and let a smile part her lips. "I kind of got that," she joked light-heartedly. Rory backed away a little more her uniform falling to the ground but she didn't notice. "What happened?" she asked, this time more serious.

Lorelai let out a low chuckle and met Rory's blue eyes. "I freaked," she started, "Rory I've never seen you this serious about a guy. I mean when you first met Dean and you said didn't want to go to Chilton I always knew that you weren't really considering it. But with Tristin…" Lorelai trailed off for a second, racking her brain for how to describe what she had felt. "Everything with him is so much more intense. And I freaked because I realized that I could lose you."

Rory was quick to shake her head. "Mom you would never lose me," she promised, feeling quite confident about that. No matter how much Tristin had come to mean to her she would never be able to turn her back on her mother for good.

Lorelai brought her hand up and placed it on Rory's shoulder. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were gentle. "Glad to hear that," she said, sounding more like her true self. "I've finally turned a new leaf," she stated bending over and picking up the uniform and guiding Rory over to the steps. "Maybe and just maybe, the people from my parent's world aren't all evil."

Rory could have screamed when she heard her mom say that. She couldn't stop her small smile from turning so big she felt it might takeover. She accepted the coffee her mom gave to her, not even noticing that it was colder then it was hot. "So you've finally figured out that the grass is greener on the other side?" Rory asked, teasing her mom.

Lorelai laughed and pretended to look serious for a moment. "This is true, although just between you and me," she said leaning forward like it was some top secret information. "I think they might just be hiring people to make it so green."

"You don't say!" Rory exclaimed like she was shocked.

The two girls sat on the steps, sipping at there respective coffee's until both were done. They looked at each other; glad that they were back to normal and that there was only one thing on each of their minds.

"Luke's!" they both exclaimed, rushing back into the house to change and head down to their favourite diner.

---

_Thanks for all the amazing reviews, you guys make my day! This is the last update for about two weeks because I'm leaving for vacation in about an hour! Yeah!_

_Hugs and Kisses,  
-Ella_


	9. Planning A Party

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, just borrowing it for a while...

**He'd be a Fool Not To**

Rory walked into Chilton with a huge smile on her face. Usually coming into this school, or hell like she thought of it as, was enough to make her smile slip into a frown. But not today, because today she'd made up with her mom, she'd be able to be with Tristin and not feel guilty and nothing could get that smile of her face. Not even the test they had in Trig that she'd forgotten about…

"Oh no!" she exclaimed and rushed towards her locker, hoping to get in some last minute studying. But when she got to her locker she knew all hope was lost. Not only was Tristin there but so was Paris and they were bickering non-stop.

"…it's disrespectful!" Paris finished, letting Rory catch the tail end only.

"Disrespectful?" Tristin questioned, finding much amusement in the situation.

"Yes and not only that, it's a danger to the entire student body and you!"

"Well Paris," he said, leaning forward, "I didn't know you cared."

"Did you even listen to me?" she asked feverishly, her face turning red with anger and frustration.

Rory decided to cut in and walked up to the both of them. "You should know by now Paris that Tristin blocks out everything that isn't about him," she said smartly.

"Well can you blame me?" Tristin asked, looking down at Rory, his smirk turning into a genuine smile.

"Yes," Rory stated simply while she ditched some of her books for the ones she would need. "And it's not like that head of yours needs anymore inflating."

"What about my head, sweet Mary?" he asked smoothly, his fingers lightly brushing up against her back, the ends of her hair tickling his skin.

"Nothing," she replied innocently and shut her locker. "I'm just surprised you can still stand upright," she said while walking off with Paris.

Tristin smirked and picked up his bag before walking with them. He was about to grab Rory's bag but she shrugged it out of his reach, sending him a glare. He shook his head but instead snaked his arm around her shoulders.

"I'll have you know that I have no problem standing at all."

"Yeah not right now but we still have little more then two years of school left," she informed, a grin forming on her lips.

"Mary, Mary, Mary…"

"Oh would you two stop already!" Paris exclaimed suddenly making them both jump and Tristin stop mid sentence. "We're not on Dawson's Creek! This isn't some teen schmooze fest!" she shouted, walking off in a huff. "And tie up your shoes!" she yelled over her shoulder at Tristin.

Rory and Tristin exchanged a look before watching Paris disappear into her and Rory's period classroom down the hall. Rory couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing, looking from Tristin to his shoes and then back again.

"So that's what you were fighting about?" she asked, trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah," he answered just shifting on his feet and not bothering to tie up the laces. Suddenly when looking up at Rory he got a confused and worried look on his face. "Hey, what happened yesterday?"

"You mean this morning?" Rory corrected him but Tristin only frowned. "I only saw my mom this morning."

"Right," Tristin drawled and started walking again. "And how'd that go?" He wasn't exactly sure but from her mood he thought something good must have happened.

Rory smiled, not being able to help it. "We talked."

"You talked?" he echoed her, obviously wanting something more then that.

"She apologized and actually admitted that you people maybe weren't so bad," she told him gleefully.

"My people?" he questioned amused.

"Yeah you know, high society, trust fund kids," she explained laughing when his only reacting was to shrug. "But you probably shouldn't come over for a while."

Tristin looked mildly disappointed though he did understand why that would be necessary. Then his smirk returned to its rightful place and he leaned closer to her. "I guess you'll just have to spend more time at my place," he told her, his hot breath sending shocks through her system.

Rory felt herself go red from the neck up at his words; although it was more from the thoughts that popped into her head about what they could do at his house. Surprisingly she didn't feel uncomfortable thinking about things like that when it involved Tristin, which made her think just a little bit more about the seriousness of their relationship.

"Yeah, I really see that happening," she told him sarcastically, rolling her eyes at his hopeful expression as they stopped outside her first period class. "I'll see you later?" she asked him quietly.

Tristin smiled and grabbed her hand. "I won't forget about the cafeteria this time," he promised, bringing her knuckles up to his lips and pressing a kiss to them.

Rory blushed again, feeling warmth spread through her at the small gesture. Sometimes he could be so sweet; he was like a completely different guy from the one she'd known before. And all she'd had to do was give him a chance.

"Thanks," she said, not bothering to play off the fact that walking into the cafeteria alone again was not on her top ten things she ever wanted to do again.

Tristin nodded and she felt him lean down a bit like he was going to kiss her but he pulled back after seeing some people watching them. "Alright well…"

Rory could tell he was frustrated and disappointed. If she was honest with herself she felt the same way and so throwing caution to the wind she grabbed his arm before he could turn away and stepped up closer to him. She saw the surprise in his piercing blue eyes and took only a fraction of a second to smile proudly to herself before she pulled his head down to hers.

Tristin immediately let his arm wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to him, feeling every part of her body pressing against his. He let his other hand burry itself in her chestnut locks, tilting her head back and letting his tongue glide over her bottom lip, pleading for her to deepen the kiss. When Rory in turn opened her mouth further in invitation, Tristin slipped his tongue into her mouth, caressing hers with his own. The kiss was turning fairly passionate as Tristin slowly backed Rory against the wall, trapping her there with his arms.

The feeling of the hard, cold wall seemed to rouse Rory from the swimming in her head. She moved her hand that had been buried in the short hairs on his neck, down to his chest laying it flat against his pectoral muscles. She could feel the firmness of his chest and sighed in pleasure, leaving her lips attached to his a moment longer before finally pulling away.

Tristin groaned in displeasure the minute he felt her soft lips leave his own. He tightened his grip on her waist, holding her against him and let his head fall down to her shoulder, his breaths coming in short gasps. He couldn't understand the power this girl had over him. His veins were being over flowed with lava and an overpowering, overwhelming surge of emotion he had never felt before was consuming him.

Rory let her hand that had been on his chest glide up over his broad shoulders and rest against his neck, holding onto him. She could feel a strange languor passing through her system and she would have sworn had Tristin not been holding her up she would have melted into the ground. Suddenly she felt Tristin press his lips to her skin and a shudder went through her. Rory moaned quietly into his ear as he kissed at the juncture of her neck.

"Tristin…" she breathed out, her voice scratchy and hoarse.

"Mary?" he shot back, his lips curving ever so slightly into a smile as he moved his head back so their eyes could meet.

"I have to go to class," she told him quietly, wanting nothing more then to stay in his arms forever.

Tristin pouted and was about to pull her even closer to him in hopes of having her forget about class when he heard the warning bell through the PA system. Sighing, Tristin stepped back from Rory, his hand running down the length of her arm and then tangling it with her own hand.

"Later, Mary," he told her flashing his trademark smirk at her before he walked away down the hall.

Rory watched him disappear down another corridor and then quickly roused herself from her trance like state. She walked into her classroom, ignoring the many glares she was receiving from the girls and sitting down next to Paris. She couldn't help but think how perfect everything was.

---

"Lucas!" Lorelai yelled as she entered the diner after work that night. She walked over to the counter and placed her purse down before jumping onto one of the stools. Lorelai waited patiently for a whole thirty seconds before she let out a sigh of boredom and pulled the little gold bell closer to her and started to hit her hand against it.

"Lorelai! What are you doing?" Luke asked as he came out of the kitchen, drying his hands off with a dishrag which he then used to swat her hand away from the bell. "You ring the bell once! You don't continuously ring the bell making everyone in the diner deaf!"

"Well maybe you should serve your customers right away, that way I wouldn't have had to resort to that," she explained, folding her hands on the counter, her teeth flashing in wide smile.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you convince me to get this stupid thing in the first place!" he yelled at her, swiping the bell off the counter and hiding it somewhere below.

"Good now that that problem's solved, let's move onto my coffee problem," she proposed, looking straight at him, her face completely serious.

"You don't have any coffee, Lorelai," Luke pointed out, leaning back against the counter.

"Exactly."

"Hey Luke give my mom some coffee," Rory said as she walked into the diner and sat down next to Lorelai. "Ooh and get me some to…and some pie."

"You really are my daughter," Lorelai commented, looking at Rory and pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

"And you just figured this out now?" Rory asked, shrugging her coat off and draping it across the stool next to her.

"Well I was a little suspicious when you would read the dictionary for fun when you were little," Lorelai said but then shrugged. "All's clear now though."

"Well good, let's celebrate," Rory exclaimed.

"Yeah, with coffee!" Lorelai told her, seeing Luke set two mugs on the counter.

"And pie!" Rory added, dinging her fork into the large piece in front of her.

The two Gilmore girls sat quietly at the counter for a couple minutes, enjoying their coffee and pie until suddenly Lorelai bolted upright and turned to Rory. She patted her excitedly on the shoulder, waiting for her to swallow her coffee.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Rory asked, wiping her mouth on her sleeve as she watched her mom actually bounce in her seat.

"It's almost your winter break!" Lorelai exclaimed and clapped her hands together. "It's gonna be so fun! We're gonna watch movies and sleep in and eat so much junk we'll put ourselves in sugar coma's!"

Rory smiled at her mom's crazed enthusiasm and took the last bite of pie. "Also, lots of work for the school paper, courtesy of Paris."

"No!" Lorelai said loudly, her shoulders slumping down. "Bummer."

"It'll be okay," Rory promised while sipping at her coffee and letting the heavenly beverage warm her slightly chilly body. "Plus, I was kind of expecting it."

Lorelai nodded her head and turned back around to face the counter. From her spot perched on one of the stools she could see directly into the kitchen, where Luke was busy prepping something. Tilting her head to the side, a wide smile slowly appeared on Lorelai's face and her blue eyes lit up with playfully.

"I think I may have just saved Christmas!" she announced suddenly, making Rory almost choke on her coffee.

"And Christmas needed saving because?" she asked, wiping at the corner of her mouth and setting her mug back down on the counter.

"I don't know," Lorelai admitted shrugging her shoulders. "It just sounded more important that way."

"Well as long as you have a sensible explanation," Rory commented dryly.

"Hush child, you're ruining mommy's excitement!" Lorelai complained and then leaned further towards Rory and motioned for her to do the same. She was about to open her mouth when Luke suddenly walked out of the kitchen and she snapped back, an innocent smile on her face.

"What's with you?" Luke asked, balancing a couple plates in his hand.

""Nothing…" Lorelai told him, letting her voice trail off and watching as Luke rolled his eyes and walked off to deliver the food to the tables. She looked back and forth between Rory and Luke before finally grabbing Rory's hand and pulling her off of her stool and outside the diner.

"Okay, what's with the secret ops?" Rory asked jerking her hand out of her mothers and wrapping her arms around herself as the harsh cold invaded her body.

"We're going to invite Luke over for Christmas!" Lorelai exclaimed, jumping up and down a little and clapping her hands together.

"What?" Rory asked, watching as her crazy mother nodded her head. "Luke's not going to want to spend Christmas with us!"

"Why not? Christmas is the best holiday of the year! You get snow and candy canes and presents and there's a huge feast!" she said, her eyes getting glassy as she thought of the up and coming holiday. "Plus, Luke probably spends Christmas boxed up in that apartment of his all alone…I think it's time we saved him from that horrible fate."

"You're crazy," Rory stated, looking into the diner and watching Luke exchange money with one customer. "You're not going to be able to get Luke to spend Christmas with us!"

---

"I can't believe he agreed!" Rory exclaimed as they walked into the crap shack later that night, stripping themselves of their coats and shoes.

"Rory no! How many times to I have to tell you?" Lorelai cried dramatically, grabbing onto Rory's hands and pulling them up. "No man is able to resist the Gilmore charm!"

"Sorry," Rory apologized sarcastically. "I'll try to be better."

"Good. Now we need to make more plans for Christmas," she announced, folding her hands on her lap and sitting down on the couch. "Hey why don't we make it like a party?"

"With three people?" Rory asked, sitting cross legged in front of the coffee table and pulling out all her homework.

"No with everyone! All of Stars Hollow!" she exclaimed. "Ooh so much fun!"

Rory watched her mom over the top of her textbook; she'd seen her mom get excited before, thousands of times actually, but never like this. She looked like she was glowing almost and even twitching which Rory decided to ignore as she didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

She was just about to say something but the shrill ring f the phone interrupted her. Both girls looked at each other, a frown marring both their features.

"Oh!" Lorelai suddenly exclaimed jumping off the couch and pointing at the tall vase by the window. "It's in there," she told Rory who walked over, not finding that at all odd.

"Hello?" she greeted as she hit the talk button on the white portable phone.

"Well hello Mary," Tristin drawled on the other end, just the sound of his voice making her cheeks tinge pink.

Rory couldn't help the smile that also appeared on her face and she turned to see her mom watching her and held up one finger. Rory then walked away and into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"Hey Tristin," she said once seated on her bed, nervously picking at her shirt, she'd never talked to him on the phone before, although it should prove easier. "You know I don't remember giving you my number," she told him sarcastically.

"You didn't," he confirmed. "I have connections Mary," he said, sounding way to full of himself.

"With a phonebook?" Rory shot back, feeling more comfortable now that they'd lipped into their banter.

"You wound me!" Tristin cried on the other line.

"You'll live," Rory said, grinning widely. She lay back on the bed and laid one arm across her stomach, letting her fingers play with the end of her hair. "So what's with the phone call? Not that I'm complaining though," Rory asked.

"Aww, I knew you liked me Mary," Tristin added. "But I did have a reason for calling. My parents have informed me of the Christmas party we're throwing this year. And my attendance is mandatory."

"Wow, your parents sure have the Christmas spirit," Rory commented dryly, smiling at the obvious annoyance in his voice.

"Very funny," he said but his voice turned up subtly when he said the next thing. "But they did tell me that I have to come with a plus one."

"A what?" Rory asked, confused as to what that meant.

"A date," Tristin clarified. "So?"

"So…?" Rory repeated mulling over what he just said in her head until it became clear and her mouth dropped open as her eyes widened. "Oh!" she exclaimed lamely before shutting her mouth tightly.

Tristin laughed over the phone at her reaction before he sobered up. "Will you come to the party with me?" he asked his voice low and husky.

"You want me to be your date?" Rory asked, loving the sound of that in her head.

"Well you were the one who called me your boyfriend, or do you not remember?" Tristin teased.

Rory was suddenly very glad they were having this conversation on the phone as her cheeks flamed up with those words. She couldn't help the wide smile form plastering itself on her face, or the giddy feeling from spreading throughout her body.

"I remember," she told him, her voice quiet. "And yes, I'll go with you."

"So will this be our first date?" he asked, wanting to see what kind of reaction that would get out of her.

Rory blushed even more and tried to bury herself further into her bed. "Maybe," she told him, her voice sounding even smaller. "Unless you count when we were at Luke's."

"Right," he drawled casually although his heart was pounding just as hard as Rory's. "The parties on Christmas Eve," he told her.

"Christmas Eve?" Rory repeated, hesitation coming into her voice.

"Yah, is that a problem Rory?" Tristin asked, hoping it wasn't, spending time with her was the only reason he wanted to go to the party.

"No, I'll just…" Rory sighed and pushed herself up and off her bed. "Could you hang on for a second? I have to ask my mom" she explained walking to her door and pausing with her hand on the knob.

"Sure," he acquiesced.

Rory placed the phone down on her desk before walking back to the door and pulling it open. She shuffled out into the kitchen and could hear split seconds of different shows on TV as her mom surfed through channels. She padded silently into the room and sat herself down on the couch, watching her mom and then watching the TV, wondering how o bring this subject up.

"So? Who was on the phone?" Lorelai asked, noticing how nervous her daughter looked.

"Oh, well it was…Tristin," she told her mom, only briefly meeting her eyes and then turning back to the TV.

Lorelai paused in her channel surfing, letting the TV stay on the information channel for ten seconds more before she changed it.

"So what'd loverboy want?" she asked teasingly, reminding herself that she was giving this boy a chance.

Rory smiled gratefully at her mom but her blue eyes were still anxious and she pulled a pillow onto her lap, letting her fingers pick at the fray surrounding it. "Well…umm…I know that we usually watch movies and stay up on Christmas Eve but," she paused, drawing in a large breath before continuing, "Tristin invited me to a Christmas Party at his parents' house."

Lorelai let a small smile grace her face. She could tell only by looking at her daughter that Rory wanted to go. She tilted her head to the side and chewed at her bottom lip as she remembered all the past Christmas Eve's they'd spent together, always together. Bu Lorelai had known that this day would come. Rory was growing up.

She inhaled a breath and turned on the couch, tucking her feet underneath her. "What do you wear to that kind of party?" she asked, subtly giving Rory her permission.

"What? Oh, um, a dress I guess," Rory answered automatically before her eyes widened and her head snapped up to meet her mothers eyes. "You're letting me go?" she asked, hope in her eyes and voice.

"Of course, babe," Lorelai responded, smiling as her daughter launched herself into her arms and hugged her.

"Thank you!" Rory said and stayed like that for a minute before she leaned back and jumped off the couch. "I have to go tell him," she told Lorelai before almost skipping off into her room.

Lorelai sighed and fell back into the pillows on the couch as she heard Rory's door closed.

Her little girl was growing up…

* * *

_Sorry for the wait guys but I couldn't seem to write this chapter. I hope you guys like it and I'll get the next chapter up quicker this time. I also am planning on having Javajunkie in this fic...Anyway review please!_

_Hugs and Kisses,  
-Ella  
_


	10. The Perfect Moment

He'd be a Fool Not To

_Chapter Nine Recap:_

"_So what'd loverboy want?" she asked teasingly, reminding herself that she was giving this boy a chance._

_Rory smiled gratefully at her mom but her blue eyes were still anxious and she pulled a pillow onto her lap, letting her fingers pick at the fray surrounding it. "Well…umm…I know that we usually watch movies and stay up on Christmas Eve but," she paused, drawing in a large breath before continuing, "Tristin invited me to a Christmas Party at his parents' house."_

_Lorelai let a small smile grace her face. She could tell only by looking at her daughter that Rory wanted to go. She tilted her head to the side and chewed at her bottom lip as she remembered all the past Christmas Eve's they'd spent together, always together. Bu Lorelai had known that this day would come. Rory was growing up._

_She inhaled a breath and turned on the couch, tucking her feet underneath her. "What do you wear to that kind of party?" she asked, subtly giving Rory her permission._

"_What? Oh, um, a dress I guess," Rory answered automatically before her eyes widened and her head snapped up to meet her mothers eyes. "You're letting me go?" she asked, hope in her eyes and voice._

"_Of course, babe," Lorelai responded, smiling as her daughter launched herself into her arms and hugged her._

"_Thank you!" Rory said and stayed like that for a minute before she leaned back and jumped off the couch. "I have to go tell him," she told Lorelai before almost skipping off into her room._

_Lorelai sighed and fell back into the pillows on the couch as she heard Rory's door closed._

_Her little girl was growing up…_

**Chapter Ten:**

Rory frowned slightly, dragging her marker across one of the squares on her calendar. She starred silently at the marred white box, disappointment spreading through her system. She couldn't believe that she had to get up and go back to school the next morning. The two weeks they'd had off for winter break had been like heaven for her and even though she loved school, she just wasn't ready to go back.

Rory shuffled over to her bed and perched herself on the edge, absentmindedly chewing at the end of her Sharpie marker. She let her blue gaze drift over to the mass of pillows and blankets and couldn't stop her cheeks from flaming up. She knew the night before would be forever branded in her memory…

_Flashback_

"_How could you lose your notes?" Rory asked sceptically, her hands on her hips. _

"_Well I didn't so much lose them…as I threw them out," Tristin told her, smiling boyishly as he turned around and fingered a random book lying on her dresser. _

"_Tristin!" Rory admonished. "It's only winter break, we still have exams!" she told him and when he smirked she smacked him on the chest. _

"_Ouch, Mary," he pouted and then smiled, walking over to her. "You see this is where you come into the plan."_

"_Oh really?"_

"_Really," he repeated and bent down slightly, threading his fingers through one of the straps on her bag and hoisting it up. "You're gonna let me borrow your notes," he whispered like it was a secret of some sort. _

_Rory frowned, "I need my notes Tristin, I can't study without them."_

"_Relax Rory, I was only gonna photocopy them," he grinned and then grabbed onto her hand and pulled her towards her desk. He dropped her back pack down on the floor and removed the book she'd been holding the entire time, setting them down on the desk. _

"_What are you doing?" Rory asked, watching him closely. _

"_Nothing," he said innocently and before Rory could even register what was happening in her mind he'd picked her up and dropped her unceremoniously on her bed. _

"_Tristin!" Rory cried and moved quickly to sit herself up and when she did she found Tristin lying back on her bed, his legs outstretched and his hands hanging onto the headboard behind him. "You can't be on my bed!" she told him, fighting the blush that was rising on her cheeks and nervously looking at her bedroom door that was still open a crack. _

"_Why not, Mary? I'm not doing anything," he reasoned with her, smiling at her pink blush and gently tugging at her arm to bring her closer to him. "Besides, I've never seen anyone so engrossed with a movie before than your mom."_

"_That's because it's not just some random movie! It's Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory!" she told him crossly, glaring at him even as she complied with his wishes and scooted closer to him on the bed. _

"_Anyway, I wasn't planning on doing anything to you," he told her which caused her to roll her eyes and shoot him a look, obviously not believing him. "Actually…" he drawled lengthening that word as he leaned over the bed and grabbed the book Rory had been holding before off the desk. "I was thinking we could read a little," he said, grinning charmingly and dangling the book in front of her. _

_Rory looked at him for a second, her eyes narrowed suspiciously before she smiled. Rory grabbed the book out of his hand but then moved closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder. _

"_Read to me?" she asked him shyly, not quite meeting his eyes and the action caused Tristin to swallowed loudly before he took the book back from her. _

_He started from the first page even thought Rory was already halfway through it. She didn't mind though. His voice was husky and rough, soothing her completely and making her just want to listen to him talk all day. She closed her eyes contently and let her fingers dance up his arm and onto his chest, not really realizing what she was doing. _

_After he finished reading the first chapter Rory could barely keep her eyes open. His smooth voice was lulling her into a peaceful slumber and she welcomed the relaxation it provided her with. She was almost completely asleep when he moved suddenly, putting the book back onto her desk. She felt him move around for a moment and then sighed as he pulled her closer to him, her head now resting on his chest and her legs automatically tangling with his. She couldn't stop the sleepy smile from spreading across her face when he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her sweetly on the top of her head. _

"_Sweet dreams, Mary," she heard him whisper before she finally succumbed to sleep. _

_End Flashback_

Rory smiled at the memory alone, a giddy feeling flowing throughout her system. She felt stupid getting all excited over something as small as that but she couldn't help it. It had literally been the perfect moment. She would never be able to explain the feeling of safety she found in his arms, almost the kind she found when her mother would hug her after something bad happened.

Rory rolled her eyes at her own thoughts, smiling at how mushy she'd become and then pushed herself off her bed. She padded silently into the loving room and walked over to her mother who was sitting on the couch intently watching the TV.

"I'm gonna go to bed," she announced, sitting down to kiss her mom on the cheek.

"K, hon," Lorelai replied, smiling at her daughter as she watched her walk back to her room. "Oh Rory!" she called right when Rory got to her door.

"Yeah?"

"ET called when you were in the shower earlier," Lorelai told her innocently. She'd seen a little more of Tristin over the break, finding out that he may not be as evil as she'd thought. Turned out he was really good at mocking movies and had a great taste in music and he hated his parents, something Lorelai had to bond with him over.

"What?" Rory asked and immediately came back over and jumped onto the couch. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well he only said to pass on a message," she said and then hopped off the couch and walked into the kitchen and open the fridge.

"Mom!" Rory called and followed her, arms crossed across her chest. "Well?"

"Well what?" Lorelai asked fighting to keep the smile off her face; her daughter was just so fun to tease.

"What was the message?" Rory asked, feeling like pinching her mom for not telling her sooner.

"Oh nothing," Lorelai mused and walked away. "Just that he's gonna pick you up tomorrow," she called over her shoulder.

Rory stood in the kitchen her eyes wide in disbelief and then she narrowed them. She walked into the living and leaned over the back of the couch, her head beside her mom's. "He's picking me up?"

"I told him it wasn't necessary but he insisted," Lorelai said, smiling a little at the happy smile on her daughters face. "Night kid," she said, reminding Rory that she had been on her way to bed before.

"Yeah, night," she echoed and walked back to her.

Rory turned her light off and laid down in bed, she contemplated calling him but decided against it. Even though she didn't like the idea of him going out of his way in the morning just to pick her up, the idea was giving her butterflies.

---

Rory was sitting with her mom at the kitchen table when they both heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Rory had gotten up right as her alarm went off that day, not knowing what time he would come to get her. She'd been sitting in the kitchen for no more than ten minutes, though it had seemed like a lot longer.

"Bye mom," Rory told her and jumped up, grabbing her backpack and kissing her mom on the cheek.

"Not so fast," Lorelai said and grabbed her daughters' wrist. "Can't loverboy come in for a minute?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Mom," Rory said, suddenly getting flashbacks to the dance she'd gone to with Dean and the way her grandmother had acted. However Rory smiled happily when she heard a car door slam and him walking up on the front porch.

"Well I guess he's smarter than Dean," Lorelai said although the teasing glint in her eyes told Rory she was just kidding.

"I'll get the door," Rory said and walking in front of her mom. "Be nice," she warned and rolled her eyes when Lorelai made a cross over her heart.

Rory opened the door and instantly felt her heart start to beat faster when she saw him standing there with his hands crammed in his pockets and a genuine smile on his face. She returned the smile and stepped outside onto the porch, almost forgetting about her completely.

"Rory?" Lorelai questioned and the two teens snapped their attention back to her. "Have fun at school," she told them and Rory felt relief wash through her system. She still wasn't exactly sure if her mom liked Tristin yet or even at all. She'd tolerated him when he'd been at their house over the break, even let them be in her bedroom together –although without the door closed of course.

"Bye mom," Rory told her and blushed as her mom winked at her, hoping Tristin hadn't seen it although she doubted it.

"Bye Lorelai," Tristin said, the first thing he'd uttered since he'd gotten there and Lorelai nodded at him before she closed the door.

Rory closed her eyes briefly before looking back up at Tristin who had his famous smirk playing on his lips and she blushed. "What?" she asked unable to stop herself.

"What was with the wink, Mary?" he asked, receiving a glare from Rory even as her blush reddened even more.

Rory smiled, "Oh you know, it's just our danger signal," she told him innocently.

"What?"

"Yep, you should be prepared, my mom is gifted in the field of attacking people with pillows," she told him as she started to walk over to his car, waiting by the side door for him to let her in.

Tristin laughed, "Pillows? I don't think I'd mind being in a pillow fight with you," he exclaimed, walking towards her his body immediately providing hers with warmth. "Pig tails…pyjama's…you climbing all over me…" he whispered into her ear, his hot breath hitting her neck and Rory felt her heart stop.

"In your dreams, Bible Boy," she told him, wanting her voice to come out teasing but instead it sounded breathy and weak.

"Every night," he promised and gently kissed her neck, the contact sending tremors down her spine. "You know Mary, you haven't said anything about me picking you up," he told her teasingly, although his blue eyes showed her how surprised he was.

"I haven't?" she questioned and smiled when he shook his head. Rory let her hands creep up his chest and twirl around his neck, pulling him down closer to her. "Thank you," she whispered before letting their lips connect.

Tristin sighed and let one of his hands delve into her silky hair while the other cupped her cheek. He kissed her back with the same gentleness, not pushing for anything but the tenderness sent shockwaves throughout both of them.

They soon broke apart, each trying to calm their breathing as they smiled. Tristin gently pulled Rory forward and opened the door behind her. After she was seated he closed the door and jogged to the other side, sliding in and starting the car.

"Tristin?" Rory asked, not meeting his eyes as she set her backpack down by her feet.

"Yeah?" he replied, backing the car out of the driveway and starting on his way to Chilton.

Rory grinned, "Don't think that I'm gonna let you do this every morning," she warned him, her earlier thoughts about not wanting him going out of his way for her coming back to her.

Tristin smirked, "I wouldn't dream of it, Mare," he told her, smiling just for her and reached over, enveloping her hand in his own.

Rory smiled, watching his profile as he concentrated on the road before them. She couldn't help but think back to the other night when she'd decided that falling asleep in his arms had been the perfect moment. Suddenly this morning felt like the perfect moment and she knew, without a doubt, that their relationship would be full of them. And the thought alone made her giddy.

---

_Sorry about the long wait but I'm seriously running out of ideas for this story, which is why this chapter is so short and really nothing happens in it...So if anyone knows of anything they might want to happen I would be forever grateful! Thanks and please review!_

_Hugs and Kisses,  
-Ella_


	11. Eyes On Me

He'd be a Fool Not To

_Chapter Ten Recap:_

_Tristin gently pulled Rory forward and opened the door behind her. After she was seated he closed the door and jogged to the other side, sliding in and starting the car. _

"_Tristin?" Rory asked, not meeting his eyes as she set her backpack down by her feet. _

"_Yeah?" he replied, backing the car out of the driveway and starting on his way to Chilton. _

_Rory grinned, "Don't think that I'm gonna let you do this every morning," she warned him, her earlier thoughts about not wanting him going out of his way for her coming back to her. _

_Tristin smirked, "I wouldn't dream of it, Mare," he told her, smiling just for her and reached over, enveloping her hand in his own. _

_Rory smiled, watching his profile as he concentrated on the road before them. She couldn't help but think back to the other night when she'd decided that falling asleep in his arms had been the perfect moment. Suddenly this morning felt like the perfect moment and she knew, without a doubt, that their relationship would be full of them. And the thought alone made her giddy. _

Chapter Eleven:

Rory frowned as she tried her hardest to concentrate on the book in front of her. She'd never had any problems reading before but her mind kept wondering off the text. She was just about to try her hardest to concentrate again when the library doors opened and two giggling girls walked in, taking seats at a table behind her.

With a sigh Rory closed her book and packed all of her notebooks back into her bag, knowing that studying was obviously not going to happen that day. She walked out of the library and to her locker, packing away her bag because she had another thirty minutes for lunch and didn't want to carry it around with her.

Leaning back against the cold, hard metal of her locker she tried to think of something she could do to occupy herself. Usually her and Tristin would either sit in the cafeteria together or outside in the quad. Today though, he'd been dragged off by his friends who'd claimed he spent too much time with Rory and they were in need of a guys' day.

Rory smiled at their antics, having been around them a lot in the past month she'd been with Tristin. At first she'd been more than nervous around them but slowly she'd come undone and realized that they really were okay guys who definitely loved to tease Tristin. She couldn't count how many stories she'd been told throughout the last month about the things he'd done in the past.

She was about to go and sit outside, knowing that it was a great day out when she felt someone's eyes on her. Rory turned around and looked down the hall but it was completely deserted. She shrugged off the feeling and kicked away from her locker, walking towards the front door.

She stepped out into the sunny quad, pulling the sleeves of her sweater down around her hands, still feeling a little cool in the February air. She sat down on an unoccupied bench in front of the school and set her elbow on the back of it, resting the side of her head in her palm. With the mid-afternoon sun beating down on her and nice breeze brushing along her legs, Rory found herself relaxing completely. Even to the point where she felt her eyelids drooping closed and she welcomed the feeling of repose.

She stayed there with her eyes closed for a minute before she felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Squirming around on the bench, Rory opened her eyes and casually looked around. There were many people sitting around in the quad but Rory couldn't see any that were looking directly at her.

"Mary!" Tristin's voice suddenly called out.

Rory eagerly turned her head towards where she'd heard him and saw him walking straight towards her, his friends following behind him and tossing a football between them. She felt her lips stretch into a smile and immediately forgot about the feeling she'd just had.

"Hey you," she greeted and smiled as he sat down beside her and kissed her quickly, laying his arm on her shoulders. "I thought this was supposed to be a guys' day?" she asked him her eyes sparkling knowingly.

Tristin shrugged and pulled her closer to him, looking over to the guys as they finally stopped in front of them. "Well it was but then we all realized how incredibly dull our lives are without female companionship."

Rory rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek affectionately. "Aren't you all a sad bunch," she teased and some of the guys glared playfully.

"Hey…I'm not sad," one of them, Deryk, spoke up, poking his thumb at his own chest. He was about to say something else when a smirk suddenly grew on his face. "Definitely not sad when I've got a girl like that," he boasted.

Rory frowned for a second before looking behind her and seeing Paris, Madeleine and Louise coming towards them. Paris was arguing about something with Louise as Rory watched her hands gesture around wildly every couple of seconds, while Madeleine was simply walking beside them, a faint smile adorning her face.

"Hey Rory," Louise greeted as the three of them stopped around the bench Rory and Tristin were sitting on.

"You're not saying hello to me, Louise?" Deryk asked and spread his arms open wide. "You know you want to…unless you're thinking something a little more private!" he exclaimed and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Louise smirked and scratched at her nails. "Save your breath, Deryk," she advised. "You'll need it to blow up your date tonight."

Rory laughed along with the others as Deryk simply held up his right hand, all fingers down except the middle one. She leaned closer into Tristin, her earlier tiredness hitting her again and she yawned.

"Tired?" he questioned and Rory nodded. "Told you studying until the wee hours of the morning isn't good for you," he said and brought his hand up to her hair, combing it through gently, in a soothing motion.

"Hey, I stopped studying at eleven thirty last night," Rory defended herself, missing the way the others rolled their eyes at that, all of them knowing about her almost obsessive compulsive studying habits. "I was going to study more in the library but some girls came in and they were all giggly and loud so…"

"The Stevenson twins?" Louise asked but Rory only shrugged her shoulders. "Probably was them. They're in my second period class and all they could do the whole period was talk about how 'Gloria totally hooked up with like Jacob underneath the bleachers at the game last night!'" she imitated them and everyone laughed.

Paris frowned. "Seriously how do girls like that get into Chilton?" she asked, although no one went to answer her. "If Gloria was any stupider, she'd have to be watered twice a week."

Rory shook her head at Paris's bitter outlook on life. She was going to say something to her when all of a sudden she felt her skin start to prickle again and an uneasy feeling fall through her. Rory squirmed around uncomfortable and Tristin met her eyes.

"You okay?" he asked and wrapped his arm tighter around her.

Rory smiled reassuringly, trying to shake off that annoying feeling in her gut that someone was watching her again. Unlike the last two times, it wouldn't go away and Rory tried to look around her but with everyone crowding around the bench she couldn't see much.

Then the bell rang, signalling the start of next period and Rory jerked a little. She laughed at herself and let Tristin pull her up from the bench. While everyone else was groaning and moaning about having to go back inside, Rory felt relieved that she wouldn't have to sit out in the open anymore, hoping that feeling would go away now that she was in class.

"You have to go to your locker?" Rory asked Tristin as they walked into the school.

"Yeah, Miss. Cegal will kill me if I 'forget' my textbook again," he said, using air quotes and everything.

Rory laughed. "You did actually do the homework this time right?" she asked and when Tristin smiled innocently Rory frowned and smacked her hand on his chest. "Tristin!" she chastised.

"What? It was boring!" he defended himself and pouted down at her as they stopped at Rory's locker. "Anyway Mary, I'll meet you in class," he said and bent down, brushing his lips over hers in the gentlest kiss they'd shared before hurrying off down the hall.

Rory muttered under her breath as she opened her own locker and pulled her bag out, setting it on her shoulder. She had just picked her book off of the bottom of her locker and shut the door when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

Frowning Rory looked to her side, down the hall and felt confusion ebb into her veins. She could have sworn she saw a flash of a brown jacket and matching floppy hair but she had to have imagined it. Rory shook her head and walked away from her locker and into her next class, sitting at the front beside Paris.

Rory tried to concentrate on what Paris was saying to her but her mind kept wandering back to what she'd saw. Her rational thought told her it couldn't possibly be him. Why would he be at Chilton in the first place? They had broken up, plus they hadn't really talked in the past month unless you count random, awkward conversations.

Rory didn't even notice as Tristin came into the class and dropped into the seat behind her. She was so caught up in her thoughts she jumped slightly when she heard the teacher suddenly start calling attendance.

"Rory," Tristin whispered behind her and with one look to Miss. Cegal Rory turned her head to look at him. "You sure you're okay?" he asked concern in his blue eyes.

Rory smiled at that and nodded, forcing her thoughts of Dean being in the school out of her mind completely. She turned back around to the front of the class and strained to pay attention to the teacher but her eyes kept drifting towards the open classroom door.

- - -

Rory was sitting once again outside on the same bench as she sat on during her lunch. She'd been let out of her last class fifteen minutes early. Any other day Rory would have caught the earlier bus and already been on her way home, but Tristin was driving her home and they were going to hang out that night.

She was taking out her book to start reading while she waited for Tristin when a shadow fell over her. Rory looked up slowly and her eyes widened in shock at the figure standing in front of her. His six foot tall frame towered over her and the odd glint in his eyes made Rory fidget nervously before him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked anxiously, looking over her shoulder but there were only a few people outside and none were really close to her.

"I think we should talk, Rory," Dean told her and stuffed his hands in his pockets before he took a seat beside her on the bench.

Rory frowned and allowed herself to move away from him a little, still feeling slightly uncomfortable around him. "Dean couldn't this wait until later tonight. You didn't have to come all the way out here."

He shook his head and brought a hand over, laying it down on her knee and Rory felt her entire body tense at the action. "Actually I just really wanted you to hear this first," he announced and Rory felt curiosity filter through her system, making her momentarily forget about his hand. "I know we broke up and that you're with…_him _now but…"

"Dean?"

He ran his free hand through his hair and sighed. "We used to be good friends and I know we haven't talked much since that night and it's my fault because I've just been feeling really awkward around you. I didn't know how to talk to you after…I didn't know if I could talk to you."

"You can always talk to me, Dean," she assured him, feeling herself relax. "I know things are hard now because we aren't together anymore but like you said, we were good friends, and I wouldn't want that to just go away."

Dean smiled and nodded along but then his eyes narrowed. "I guess I should probably tell you this now then. My dad got his old job back," he said.

Rory stared at him for a minute, her mind running a mile a minute trying to figure out why that would be something bad. Then it came to her… "You're moving back to Chicago?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, it's kind of last minute to. We're leaving this weekend."

"Wow," she exclaimed, not knowing what else to say. She couldn't explain how she felt hearing Dean was moving away. Even though they weren't dating anymore and hadn't even had a real conversation in a month, sadness ate away at her. Dean had been a huge part of her life for a long time; it hurt to see him leave. To know that he wouldn't be in the market next time she went in, that she wouldn't see him at the bus stop or randomly around town.

But then Rory smiled, realizing that she was sad to see him go in a strictly platonic sense. Her heart ached to lose a friend but not anything more. And it felt good to know that even if he wasn't there, it wasn't the end of the world. Because she was happy now, happier than she'd ever been before. Because she had Tristin…

"Rory!"

The girl in question felt her eyes widen in surprise at hearing his voice. She looked over at Dean guiltily, shoving his hand away from where it had been innocently resting on her knee and jumping up from the bench.

"Hey you," she echoed her earlier greeting and smiled at him. She watched in apprehension as he walked closer to her, seemingly not noticing Dean as dropped his bag to the ground and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"You get out early?" he asked, his eyes staring into hers and his other hand twirling the ends of her hair around.

"Yeah," she said and nodded, not being able to stop her gaze from going towards Dean who had now stood from the bench and was looking away from them with an odd look on his face. "Uh… Tristin?" she asked nervously and petted his chest with her hand. "There's kinda something you should know."

"About what?" he asked, still not moving his attention away from her, only making Rory more anxious.

She frowned and worried her bottom lip between her teeth. "Dean's here," she finally told him and quickly averted her gaze.

She felt the change in him immediately. The way his arm tightened around her waist, the way his body tensed all the way through. When he didn't say anything she looked up at him, taking in his locked jaw and confused eyes. She laughed uncertainly and nodded to behind him and watched as he turned to look at Dean.

"Why?" he directed the question to Rory but his gaze never left Dean.

Rory stammered for a moment, searching her brain for what to say, not knowing how Tristin was reacting to Dean's presence. She could tell by looking at him that he was on edge, frustrated but something else was staring her straight in the face. Something she couldn't pinpoint for the life of her.

"I came to talk to Rory," Dean suddenly intervened and Rory sent a worried glance toward Tristin.

Tristin seemed to change all at once. His body relaxed, shoulders falling down and hands clasped before him. His lips lengthened into a smirk and he stepped closer to Dean. "Talk?" he repeated and Rory cringed at the teasing lilt in his voice.

She immediately stepped between the two of them. "Dean was just telling me that he's moving," she supplied and smiled when she saw the way Tristin let his guard down a little. She wanted to make sure that he didn't think anything of Dean coming to see her, needed to make him understand that she hadn't asked Dean to come.

"Moving where?" he asked, looking over Rory's shoulder and meeting his gaze with Dean.

"Chicago."

"Great, have fun then," he told him but the flippant way he uttered the words had Rory frowning and squirming uncomfortable in this situation. "Mary?"

She looked up at him and noticed he was holding his hand out to her, asking her silently to leave with him. She couldn't help but think it was a defining moment in her life right then. It would mean once and for all turning her back on her previous years, letting go of Dean and surrendering herself to Tristin. He was asking her to take that plunge, to trust him enough with her future and Rory smiled shyly.

She gave him her hand, noticing the way his blue eyes lit up at the gesture. As he tugged her away with him she paused and looked over her shoulder. "Bye Dean," she whispered and he nodded, a stoic expression adorning his face.

Rory sidled up closer to Tristin, letting him wrap his arm around her waist. She let her gaze wander up to his face, his features once again calm and his eyes no longer stormy. She couldn't be more thankful that this hadn't turned into a huge debacle. Things with her and Tristin were once again perfect and she couldn't be happier.

But as Rory slid into the passenger seat of Tristin's convertible she caught sight of something that stopped her heart in her chest. Standing opposite her, leaning back against his own car, was one of the guys that hung out with Tristin but from what Rory knew they didn't get along. Gary, she was pretty sure his name was.

He was staring straight at her, his detached grey eyes making her blood run cold. And Rory suddenly knew who'd been watching her all day…

- - -

_**Author's Note: **I know this story is so completely over due…Totally my fault. I kept thinking about it and staring at a blank page on my computer. Worst case of writers block ever! But I finally came up with an idea! There actually shouldn't be many chapters left…maybe three. _

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story and kept at it! You guys are so amazing and I made this chapter extra long just for you…at least I hope you still remember it! One special review that inspired me with this chapter was KarahBella who asked for _ _Dean__ to be put in it. Thanks so much for the suggestion! _

_Hugs and Kisses,   
-_ _Ella_


	12. Early One Morning

**A/N: **Hey guys! Thanks so much for the amazing response to the last chapter. I'm glad everyone liked the fact that it wasn't Dean who was watching her, I just think that's way to played out. This chapter is on the short side but I didn't wan to continue it because I think this chapter leaves off at a really good part…The next chapter should be up in a week or two, depending on if I get inspired or not. Ooh! And everyone check out the new story I started, "Just a Chick Thing"!

He'd be a Fool Not To

_Chapter Eleven Recap:_

"_Moving where?" he asked, looking over Rory's shoulder and meeting his gaze with Dean. _

"_Chicago."_

"_Great, have fun then," he told him but the flippant way he uttered the words had Rory frowning and squirming uncomfortable in this situation. "Mary?" _

_She looked up at him and noticed he was holding his hand out to her, asking her silently to leave with him. She couldn't help but think it was a defining moment in her life right then. It would mean once and for all turning her back on her previous years, letting go of Dean and surrendering herself to Tristin. He was asking her to take that plunge, to trust him enough with her future and Rory smiled shyly. _

_She gave him her hand, noticing the way his blue eyes lit up at the gesture. As he tugged her away with him she paused and looked over her shoulder. "Bye Dean," she whispered and he nodded, a stoic expression adorning his face. _

_Rory sidled up closer to Tristin, letting him wrap his arm around her waist. She let her gaze wander up to his face, his features once again calm and his eyes no longer stormy. She couldn't be more thankful that this hadn't turned into a huge debacle. Things with her and Tristin were once again perfect and she couldn't be happier. _

_But as Rory slid into the passenger seat of Tristin's convertible she caught sight of something that stopped her heart in her chest. Standing opposite her, leaning back against his own car, was one of the guys that hung out with Tristin but from what Rory knew they didn't get along. Gary, she was pretty sure his name was. _

_He was staring straight at her, his detached grey eyes making her blood run cold. And Rory suddenly knew who'd been watching her all day…_

Chapter Twelve:

She couldn't close her eyes.

Every time she let her eyelids drift down, his eyes were staring back at her.

They made her skin crawl, made her blood run cold. The hate radiating through him, the tension she'd been able to see in his body.

Rory felt a shiver run down her spine and she sighed, turning onto her side and glancing back at the clock. It was just past midnight and she still wasn't asleep.

Rory suddenly thought of something and nervously chewed her bottom lip for a moment before she made up her mind. Pushing back the covers and tiptoeing over to her dresser, she picked up her cell phone and quickly dialled a number.

"Hello?" a groggy voice picked up after about ten rings and Rory smiled.

"Hey you," she whispered, not sure if her talking would wake her mom up or not.

"Rory?" Tristin asked and she could tell his voice was laced with concern. "What's wrong?"

She sighed and sat back down on her bed, crossed legged. "I can't sleep," she told him, not knowing if she should tell him the reason why she couldn't sleep.

"Why not? Are you okay?" he asked and she smiled at his concern, a giddy feeling spreading through her body, replacing the she'd felt only minutes before.

Rory closed her eyes, Gary's eyes popping back into her head and she shook her head to clear it. "I just…I don't know…"

"You don't know?" he repeated and then he heard him curse softly before a loud noise was heard from his end of the phone.

"Tristin?" she asked, forgetting to whisper and her eyes immediately shifted to the door, waiting to see if her mom would open it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said and then paused for a moment before he sighed. "Knocked over my alarm clock…it might have broke…"

"How did you…" she started but then trailed off, laughing ever so quietly, just picturing him in her mind.

The both of them were silent for a moment, each lying in their beds and just listening to the other breathe. Tristin smiled when he heard her breathing slow down and he knew she was close to sleeping now.

"Mary?" he whispered ever so softly.

"Hmm…"

"Good night, baby," he told her, his own eyes closed in contentment.

"Night, Tris," she whispered back and then he heard the sound of the dial tone and he smiled before turning his own phone off and then drifting into a peaceful sleep.

- - -

She didn't know why she didn't tell him. Maybe she was hoping she'd imagined it or was overreacting. Maybe it was because Gary was one of Tristin's friends. Whatever the reason was, she regretted it now.

Because she was late to school, having slept past her alarm. She was late and he was the only other person outside the school building.

She knew she wasn't imagining this.

Rory bit her bottom lip as she stepped out of the jeep her mom had let her take that morning. Keeping one eye on him at all times she quickly made her way out of the parking lot and up onto the school grounds.

"Mary," he said right when she passed him, but his voice was tight and laced with menace. The nickname she'd come to love now caused her heart to stop and her steps to get a little quicker.

"Now where you going?" he asked and she knew without looking that he was following her. "You're all ready late, Mary," he said and stepped in front of her making her gasp. "Why don't you just spend the rest of the day with me?"

She couldn't stop her lip from curling in disgust. "No, thank you," she told him quietly and tried to step past him.

"Come on, don't be like that," he said laughing a little and pushed the sleeve of her shirt up as he wrapped his hand around her arm making fear leap into Rory's eyes. "You wouldn't want me to get angry."

She shouldn't have done anything. She didn't even realize that she was doing it until her bag had connected with his gut; pushing him backwards and making him scrabbled for his footing. But she couldn't run, his hand was still wrapped around her wrist and he only jerked her back to him, eyes hardened.

"Well, aren't you a little spitfire," he exclaimed and took a step closer to her, kicking her bag out of the way. "I can see what Tristin likes about you."

Rory felt her breath catch in her throat and her pulse quicken. She could see the determination lighting up in his grey eyes. "I need to get to class," she whispered, not meeting his eyes.

"No, you need to shut up," he corrected and then grabbed her other arm, yanking her closer to him. "You know, I use to like you," he admitted, a twisted smirk on his face, "When you first came here. I even saw you first."

Rory felt her eyes widen at his words, suddenly not paying attention to his increased pressure on her arm.

"You were so…innocent, so naïve. We could have had a lot of fun. But no…Dugrey had to see you; he had to call you Mary…"

She watched, frozen, as his eyes got even more angry, lips curling and his nostrils flaring.

"It was over before it even began. Tristin wanted you, he'd told us all, you were his Mary. Tristin's king, of course he got you. No one in their sane mind would challenge that…guess I'm not so sane anymore…" he trailed off with a bitter laugh, eyes wild.

Rory could feel herself shaking from his words, tears swimming in her blue eyes. The emotions radiating off of Gary were making her feel sick.

"But he finally got you, so you know I'm thinking 'what about me?' I never got my turn!" he punctuated his words with one hand letting go of her arm, making Rory gasp at the five bruises his fingers had left on her porcelain skin. He instantly wrapped that arm around her waist, pulling her into his body. "I'm sure Tristin wouldn't mind sharing," he whispered and Rory pushed her hands against his chest, fighting wildly against his hold.

Rory went to scream but one of his hands found its way over her mouth, drowning out any sound that she let out.

"Shut up! I know you've done Dugrey, Mary, it's my turn now," he told her making Rory struggle harder against him, her mind overrun with thoughts, her vision blurred from tears, her heart pounding erratically in her chest.

She couldn't believe this was happening. She could feel his hands slipping under her shirt, slithering up her back. She felt dirty, terrified, panicked…She couldn't let him do this.

Rory opened her mouth the tiniest bit, just enough that his hand slid inside. She screwed her eyes shut and bit down, not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough that he snatched his hand away from her mouth.

She was screaming the second he let her go…the second the bell signalling the end of first period echoed off the school building.

It deafened her cries for help.

"Bitch!" he screamed and wrapped one hand around her neck, holding her in place. "Listen here, you're going to cooperate now okay. I know all about your history, your family history that is. Mommy got pregnant at sixteen, didn't she!" he growled into her ear, spitting against her neck.

The mention of her mother sent rage boiling through her veins…

"You're gonna follow in her footsteps aren't you? You are dating the king, which means you gotta be good between the sheets."

Rory glared through her tears. She raised her foot, slamming the heel onto his toes, making him cry out in surprise and pain. Rory pushed against his chest, slapping him everywhere she could reach, her nails leaving angry scratch marks all over his neck and chest. He finally let go of her and she ran, scrambling towards the front doors of Chilton.

"Get back here!" he yelled and she felt his hands on her arm, pulling her backwards. "You're not running to him, Mary, you're mine now," he said, hands pulling at her shirt and Rory cried even harder as she felt it tear at the seams.

She forced herself to turn around, bringing her knee up and slamming it right between his legs. She backed away, watching as he kneeled over; eyes closed and mouth open, grabbing himself. She didn't wait any longer and took off running again.

"You should learn from your mothers' mistakes, Mary!" his voice yelled and Rory couldn't stop herself from turning to face him, still in the same position as before. "You know what I mean…Try using some birth control," he told her smirking and Rory choked back a sob as the second bell rang inside the school, indicating that second period had started.

She turned around and ran up the steps to the school, throwing open the doors. The halls were deserted again, everyone was in class and Rory ran to where she knew his locker was, not even knowing why.

She'd just turned a corner when she heard his voice.

"Yeah, just take notes for all the classes, I'll pay you back. I just have to see if she's okay."

She stopped all together, shoulders dropping and relief flooding her body. New tears fell from her eyes and she walked to where she'd heard his voice. And then he was there, closing his locker and talking to Deryk.

She wasn't even sure if she could go to him, her legs were weak, her body going numb. She felt her eyes start to flutter closed. "Tristin…" she whispered as her grasp on the wall behind her failed and she watched, as if from a far off place, as her body plummeted towards the ground.

But the impact never came as Tristin was there in a flash, catching her and lifting her up, cradling her against his chest. The last thing she saw was his brilliant blue eyes staring down at her before everything faded to black…

* * *

Read and Review!

Hugs and Kisses,  
-Ella  



	13. Fighting For Her

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls.

**(Very important author's note at the end!)**

** Oh and there's some...colourful language in this chapter! Just to warn any younger readers!  
**

He'd be a Fool Not To

Rory came to, a gentle breeze blowing across her body, gooseflesh peppering her bare arms. She could feel something gliding through her hair, cool digits caressing the back of her neck. Rory sighed in pleasure, caught up in the feel but it was suddenly cut short when a freezing cold cloth was laid over her forehead. She furrowed her brows, a hiss fleeing her lips and her hand shot up to wipe at the drops of water that were running down the side of her face, tickling her.

"Rory?" a familiar concerned voice made itself known and Rory instantly opened her eyes.

She blinked a couple times, feeling like she'd come out of an endless sleep, squinting from the bright rays of the sun, sitting high in the sky. Her forehead wrinkled, lips forming a thin line as she tried to remember what had happened.

"Rory?" Tristin's voice called out again and Rory felt what she'd now deemed as his hand pull from her hair. He shifted out from behind her and she pushed herself up onto her elbows. "You scared me, Mare," he admitted and Rory felt her lips widening in a smile.

She pushed herself up further, sitting cross legged and reached forward, her palm laying flat against his jaw. She titled her head to the side, her lips quirking into a half smile. "Sorry," she whispered, feeling herself getting lost in his amazing blue eyes.

Tristin shook his head, a look covering his face that Rory couldn't determine. Then he leaned forward, one hand wrapping around the curve of her neck and the other pressing into the small of her back. He pulled her to him, a frantic edge to his actions and Rory gasped as his lips captured hers, kissing her fiercely and stealing her breath from her.

Rory could only clutch at his shirt, letting him take control and submitting completely. She exhaled loudly when he pulled away, staying close to her, his breath hot against her face and his eyes boring into hers.

"What happened Rory?" he asked, his face softening and pulling away only slightly.

Rory narrowed her eyes in confusion for a moment, her head swimming from his bruising kiss. She thought back to what happened earlier at school and suddenly she was attacked by the memory.

His haunting angered eyes…

His hands digging into her skin, bruising her arms and her neck…

His scathing words and the fear he'd made rise up inside her…

Tears started to build in her eyes, her body shaking with their intensity. She shook her head, her hair falling in front of her face, shielding her from Tristin. She didn't want to tell him what happened; she knew he would be furious, she knew he would want to kill Gary.

"Rory?"

Rory slowly let her eyes meet his and she watched as his widened before he wrapped his arms around her body, bringing her into his embrace. Tristin easily lifted her up from the bench she was sitting on and sat down with her cradled in his lap.

He ran his hand through her hair, kissing her forehead and whispering soothing and comforting words into her ear. His grip on her tightened as his concern grew. He needed to know what had happened to her. Something had made her cry…someone had made his Mary cry…

Tristin gritted his teeth through the anger flooding his body. He vowed to himself that he wouldn't lose control yet, not until he knew what happened to shaken girl in his arms.

He'd never felt so much fear as he did when he saw her fall in the hallway earlier. Her eyes had connected with his, seconds passed; he could remember the relief painted on her face. He'd been about to go to her when all of a sudden her legs gave way.

He'd been at her side in an instant, picking her up and cradling her to his chest. He'd been running on autopilot, trying to remember everything he could from First Aid. Deryk had been talking to him but Tristin would never be able to tell you what he said, his attention had been focussed solely on Rory.

Tristin looked down at the girl in his arms, tears still falling from her eyes, his heart breaking with every new one. He tilted her chin up, kissing away her tears, trying in vain to calm her down. He needed her to tell him what happened.

"Tris…" her voice called to him and he let himself feel relieved for a short moment. At least she was talking again, that had to be a good sign. "…he tried to….I was so scared…"

His entire body tensed at that one sentence she managed to choke out. _He tried to… _His blood was boiling, anger and rage fuelling his body, making his fists curl inwards, his teeth gnaw together, and his nostrils flare.

"Who Rory?" he asked her, trying his hardest to maintain a gentle voice. He didn't want to upset her further. "What did he do?"

Rory shook her head and wrapped her fingers around his shirt, pulling herself further into his embrace. She was slowly calming down, her tears stopping and her heart rate slowing. Just being in Tristin's arms was helping; he made her feel so safe, like nothing bad could ever happen.

"Please…tell me, Mary," Tristin pleaded, kissing her on the crown of her head. He looked up and happened to see Deryk coming closer, hovering about five feet away. Tristin shook his head minutely, letting him know he hadn't figured out what had happened yet.

Rory gulped and squeezed her eyes shut. "He kept saying he wanted me…that it was…his turn," she managed to tell him and when she heard him curse under his breath she pulled away, looking into his fiery eyes. "He insulted my mom…kept saying I was going to follow in her footsteps…"

Tristin had to close his eyes and count to ten in his head to curb his anger. He'd never before had this insane urge to maim someone before but whoever said these things to Rory, he wanted them six feet under.

"Who?" It was the only thing he could concentrate on.

Rory looked into his eyes, scared of the deadly glint shining in them. She knew he would go ballistic once she told him; it scared her to know that she almost wanted him to. Gary was an asshole, but she managed to look past how much he disgusted her and had terrified her. She knew violence wasn't the right way to solve this, but Rory wasn't naïve enough to think Tristin wouldn't hurt him.

She stared straight into his angry blue eyes and sighed. "Gary," she told him finally, her voice almost inaudible.

Tristin swore he saw red the minute that name left her lips. He tried to check his anger; he bit through his tongue, blood spurting into his mouth. Tristin growled and stood up, picking Rory up and standing her up beside him, calling over to Deryk in one fluid motion.

"Who?" Deryk asked immediately and Rory could see the irritation and anger in him also, and she was beyond surprised at that.

Tristin sneered, "Gary."

Rory watched in horror as Tristin turned to the school and then whispered something to Deryk, his voice so low, so lethal it sent shivers down her spine. He turned to her for a split second, his once blue eyes now black with rage and then started off towards the school.

"Tristin! No!" she screamed after him, the only though running through her head was what if he got hurt? She went to run after him but Deryk caught hold of her arm, restraining her. She shot him a black look and noticed how apologetic he seemed.

"You can't let him do this!" she told him, yanking restlessly on her arm, looking back and forth between him and the school, Tristin having disappeared inside the front doors. "What if gets hurt?"

Deryk shook his head. "Dugrey can take care of himself, you shouldn't worry."

Rory frowned, glaring at him some more. She took another step forward, his hand slipping from its grip around her palm to her wrist. She once again tugged on her arm, hoping it would slip again but his other hand came up and wrapped around her wrist too.

"Just let him do this," Deryk told her, surprised at how strong Rory really was as he had to tightened his grip on her arm again. "He needs to do this….you can't stop…"

"Oww!" Rory yelped in earnest when he slipped his hand further up her arm, his fingers digging painfully into the purple bruise marring her skin. Pain shot into her arm, making her remember the feeling of Gary's fingers tightening around her.

Deryk snapped his attention to her as she cried out, ripping his hand away from her arm in a split second. He looked down at her arm, the sleeve of her shirt was pushed up from his hand and he could see the bruises littering her skin.

Rory gave him a watery glare but wasted no time before she was off running, shoes slamming against the stone walkway up to the school. She had no clue what she was doing but she knew she needed to get to Tristin, before he did something that got himself hurt or expelled from school.

- - -

Tristin knew where to find him.

He wasted no time in the halls, pushing his way through the crowds of people, angrily shoving them to the side. Whispers started flooding the halls, mostly everyone stopping to take note of his determined stride and the anger coming off of him in waves.

But Tristin paid them no attention as he walked to Gary's locker. It was right near his, all the lockers of Chilton's finest were in the same place. Tristin sneered as he thought there was no way Gary would ever step foot near there after today.

He sparingly thought it was odd that he wasn't rushing to him, wasn't tearing through the halls like a man possessed. He was just walking, his footsteps echoing through the rapidly quieting halls. He felt like he was stalking his prey, his body deadly calm…he knew he was going to win.

Then he saw Gary, leaning back against his locker, guys surrounding him as he laughed through telling them some story.

His eyes narrowed and his jaw ticked away. He quickened his feet, putting less and less space between him and Gary, making sure everyone could see that he was coming and that he was pissed.

"Dugrey," the man in question stated and Tristin took a second to bask in the notch of fear in Gary's voice before he was moving closer to him.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he asked him, his face within inches of the smaller guys, breath coming out in hot, short pants as he tried to control himself from pounding the guy. "You think you can make a pass at my girlfriend without me knowing?"

Gary shook under Tristin's hateful gaze. "I wasn't trying to…I just thought…"

Tristin slammed his fist into the metal locker inches from Gary's head. "What? You just thought you'd take your turn?" he scoffed, his lips twisting into a wicked smirk. "You could never just leave her alone could you? Now you're going to pay," he threatened him.

"No! Seriously, man, I was just kidding around…" Gary choked out. "I swear!"

"Not with my girlfriend!" Tristin told him and backed away slightly, running a hand through his hair. "You don't fucking talk to Rory! You don't touch her again…you get every single thought of her out of your head or I swear I will kill you."

Gary nodded his head, to shaken in fear to do anything else. Tristin smirked and turned around the tiniest bit, just enough to hear the sigh of relief come from behind him. He fisted his hand again and quickly made his way back to Gary, whose books fell to the ground as Tristin advanced…

- - -

Rory hurriedly ran through the halls. She swallowed her nerves when she thought of how empty they were, definitely not right, as it was now just after the lunch bell. She had no clue where Tristin would have gone and so she was going to make her way to the cafeteria when she heard a commotion.

Her head snapped towards the area of Tristin's locker and she wrung her hands anxiously as she quickened her pace. Her fears rang true though when she saw the crowd of students in the hallway and Rory bit her bottom lip. She couldn't see through the crowd and so she quickly started to push her way through, made easier when people realized it was her and they parted like the red sea.

Just as she got to the front of the crowd she heard the thunderous sound of four hundred page textbooks hitting the ground and when she finally brought her gaze to the scene before her she saw Tristin was heading on a collision course with Gary.

Gary didn't have time to brace himself before Tristin landed the first punch, swearing at him as he did so. Gary's back slammed into the locker, his groan ringing out in the school as he doubled over. Tristin easily kicked him to the floor, pinning Gary down and started to hit him repeatedly.

Rory felt sick at the sight of them fighting. Gary pushed Tristin back by shoving a hand under his jaw and levelled a punch at him catching him around the nose. As Tristin drew his arm back to hit Gary again Rory rushed forward, yelling out Tristin's name, her voice desperate. Tristin looked up at her with anger and disbelief.

"Rory," he breathed out, his heart pounding in his chest and his fist still aimed at Gary's bleeding face. "What are you doing here?"

Rory frowned and rushed over to his side. She grabbed onto his arm, pulling with all her might and in Tristin's state of disbelief she managed to get him off of Gary and onto his feet. The minute he was standing Gary jumped up and rushed off in the opposite direction, but Tristin's focus was only on Rory.

"Why the hell would you do that?" she asked him, concern lacing her voice as her hand flitted around him, making sure he wasn't seriously hurt.

Tristin seemed to break out of his daze and swore out loud when he noticed that Gary had run off. "Rory, he fucking attacked you…I had to…" he was cut off by her finger brushing against his lips.

"I'm fine Tristin," she assured him and when she saw he was about to protest she quickly cut him off. "I was just in shock over what happened; I've never been in that kind of situation."

"He's a bastard Rory, I couldn't let him get away with that," he argued but then his face softened and he brought a hand to her chin, caressing her skin with his thumb. "I couldn't let him get away with hurting you."

"And you didn't," she said, shuffling closer to him. "But please let it go, Tris. I don't want you fighting for me," she exclaimed.

He smiled cockily and wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her closer so her body bumped into his. "I'll always fight for you, Mary," he whispered.

Rory blushed and then looked up into his eyes seriously. "So you'll let it go, now?" she asked him. "Promise?"

Tristin sighed, closing his eyes and trying to push all the anger out of his body. It wasn't that hard when he was holding Rory in his arms though, he would do anything to make her happy.

"I promise I won't fight him anymore," he told her, skilfully evading her real plea. There was no way in hell he was going to let the whole thing blow over, but there were ways other than violence to make Gary pay.

"Tristin…" Rory sighed worriedly, seeing the wicked spark in his eyes.

He laughed slightly. "Don't worry about it, Rory," he reassured her and then leaned down and quickly brushed his lips against hers. "I promise I'll never let anything happen to you again," he told her, making her cheeks flush pink again.

Rory smiled into his eyes. "I know," she said and then brought his lips down to hers again before she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugging him to her tightly.

Rory closed her eyes, sighing contentedly as she pressed her lips to his neck. She'd come to depend on Tristin so much in such a small time. He meant the world to her but she'd always wanted it to be perfect. She'd had a vision of perfection when it came to true love. Being with Tristin had taught her that while love is always perfect, people surely aren't. And she was now willing to take the good with the bad, just as long as that meant he would hold her forever, in his arms.

- - -

The End

- - -

**A/N: OH MY GOD! I can't believe I've finished this story! My second one finished. I hope this chapter lived up to it; I tried to make it balanced between the mushy ending and Tristin getting revenge on Gary! Hope I did well. **

**Anyway, I didn't put my author's note up before the chapter, because after the huge wait for it I thought you'd probably just want to read it right away. But! The reason I haven't updated this was because I was in an accident when I went grocery shopping with my parents. **

**When we got back to the car I opened the automatic sliding door on our van and went to step in but my mom called over to me about something and I stopped. My dad was closing the trunk of the car and we have a button on his key chain that locks the trunk but instead of pressing it he pressed the button that closes the sliding door. Let me just say that getting your hand caught in a car door really hurts! **

**I ended up breaking one finger and spraining the other one pretty badly. So I was restricted to not using my hand for a week and a half so that they could start to heal properly, also the cast made it kind of impossible to do anything anyway…**

**But I was finally able to focus back on my stories! (My sister typed this up for me, except this note which I'm using my left hand for, so I'm sorry for any mistakes) **

**Wow this is a long note…I hope to get my sister to write out some chapters for my other stories because I'm actually going on vacation this coming Friday for two weeks. It's going to suck though because I won't have a computer and I can't even swim in the ocean because of my stupid cast thing!**

**Anyway I'm complaining too much. I just wanted to let everyone know why I haven't updated and why it might me a while before I do. We get back on Agust 21, just to let you know. **

**I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this but if you are thank you! And thanks to everyone who stuck with this story, you guys are amazing and I love you all! Thanks so much!**

**Hugs and Kisses,  
-Ella**


End file.
